


October

by yourfavoritetsundre



Series: Duality Project [9]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Adoption, Bullying, Childhood Trauma, Family, Family Drama, Family Issues, Hospitalization, M/M, Marriage, Protective Siblings, Tears, Tissue Warning, Tough Times, trigger warning
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-27
Updated: 2019-11-04
Packaged: 2020-03-20 12:36:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 25,664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18992797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yourfavoritetsundre/pseuds/yourfavoritetsundre
Summary: Lance and Keith have a family, and for the most part they're happy. But that doesn't mean there aren't a few rough patches.It's the story of how Keith and Lance found their second child, Delilah, and watched her and Justin grow up. And it's not easy. And in spite of a loving home and all the opportunities in the world...sometimes people are just...not okay.





	1. The Early Years

**Author's Note:**

> Honestly, this whole thing is just a giant trigger warning. We're going to touch on a lot of tough subjects. Justin's jealousy, more bullying, family arguments, hospitalization, the works. So, please, proceed knowing that it's not the easiest read.

“Shit.” 

 

Keith looked helplessly around him. The city, the whole planet, really, was nothing more than a pile of rubble. His eyes and throat burned because of the smoke. Ahead of him, Acxa lightly hopped from cinder-block to rubble as she scaled what was once an apartment building. 

 

“Anything?” 

 

She glanced back a him, and silently shook her head. They were too late. 

 

Keith hated civil wars. He hated being the one to see the aftermath of a planet destroying itself. He especially hated seeing it happen on a place like Etheria, which was pretty welcoming and inclusive. Or, it had been. Until the natives decided that the outsiders had no place with them. 

 

There was a whimper. Keith and Acxa whipped around. 

 

“There.” Acxa said quietly. 

 

Keith sprinted across the destroyed street, small rocks and rubble sliding under his feet. Ahead, a small voice crying. Behind, Acxa’s light footfalls. 

 

He finally found the small voice, and stopped dead. A tiny being with purple skin and yellow eyes, sitting in a filthy diaper that Keith could smell from five feet away. Someone had placed the being and the voice and the diaper in a bathtub that had somehow safely landed more above rubble than under it. 

 

“Quiznack, is that...she’s Galra.” Acxa paused, and gagged. “She smells horrible...who would leave her like this?” 

 

Keith ignore her, and held his breath as he approached. The voice got louder and then quieted as Keith approached and stood over her. She’s scared, and whimpering, and baring tiny little fangs at Keith as if it will do anything. 

 

It’s not even a choice. Keith leans down and picks up the tiny being, and stripped off the diaper and threw it down into the tub. The tiny galra’s legs and private parts were covered in shit, and now that Keith’s holding her he notices how light she is, and how even if her skin is purple it’s pale under the thin fur. 

 

But as soon as she’s in Keith’s arms, she’s completely silent. 

 

“Let’s go.” he says, turning and not even looking at Acxa as he walked past her. 

 

~*~

 

Keith sighed and listened to the comm ringing as he waited for Lance to pick up. He studied his wedding ring as he sat hunched in the cold hall of the battle cruiser. 

 

_ I promise to be with you. Always you. This ring, that’s what it means. It means that wherever we go, whatever happens, I’m going to be right there. With you. It means I promise to be whatever you need, whatever you ask. I promise to be your right hand, for as long as you want me.  _

 

The phone rang. 

 

_ It means I promise to give you a home. A real one, just for us. And all the children we can possibly handle. And I promise to love you. In this world, and the next. Until the very end. This ring means I promise to love you.  _

 

“Keith!” 

 

Keith’s eyes snapped up to the com screen, but instead of those strange blue-grey eyes he found green ones. Keith swallowed the lump he didn’t even know was in his throat. 

 

“Hey, Justin.” Keith said. “How’s it going there?” 

 

“Lance is trying to make those baos you always make.” 

 

“Trying and succeeding!” Lance called from off screen. 

 

The look on Justin’s face said otherwise. Next to him, Cosmo whimpered. Keith had left him at home to keep an eye on the family. 

 

“Is everything okay, Keith?” Justin asked. 

 

“Yeah.” Keith said quietly. “Just miss you guys.”

 

“...Do you want to talk to Lance?” 

 

“Eventually. I want to talk to you now though. How was school?” 

 

Justin looked uncertain, but told him about his english class and mentioned baseball tryouts for the fourth time this month, which made Keith certain he wanted to try out. He really should make sure he can actually catch a ball before sending him to the tryouts. 

 

Justin was still pretty small and boyish, but puberty was starting to hit. Mainly in the form of awful cystic acne. Lance had been trying to implement his skincare routine, which Justin found irritating and made Lance toss up his hands and groan “You’re just like your father!” and Justin’s face would twist into something not unpleasant but not happy either. 

 

“Hey, babe.” 

 

The comm was finally transferred to Lance, who smiled as his eyes searched Keith’s face. 

 

“Hey, what’s wrong?” 

 

Keith sighed and rubbed his eyes. 

 

The comm jolted and the background behind him moved as he quickly left the room. Another jump as Lance landed in his favorite spot on the couch - right smack in the middle. 

 

“Keith, babe, what happened?” Lance asked quietly. 

 

“Just...it’s been a tough day.” Keith gave a shaky laugh. “I don’t even know why...I just...it was a bad one.” 

 

“Tell me about it. I wanna hear what happened.” 

 

“They just...they destroyed themselves. It was like Earth when we came back but...they did it to themselves.” 

 

“You’re in the med bay though. Are you okay? Did Acxa get hurt?” 

 

“We’re fine. No one’s hurt. We found a baby. Well, a toddler, I think. A little galra girl. She was in pretty bad shape. I’m just making sure she’s okay.” 

 

Something in Lance’s face softened. “Oh, babe, I’m sorry.” 

 

Keith shook his head. “It’s stupid. I just...she was crying and malnourished. And just...someone left her there, Lance. How could someone...she was so helpless.” 

 

“Keith, it’s alright. You found her, so it’s alright. I know it must have been really hard for you to find her but...it’s okay.” Lance sighed and tilted his head. “I wish I could hug you right now.” 

 

Keith snorted and smiled. “I’m not sure a hug would cover it. But yeah, me too.”

 

“Well, when you get back, then.” Lance paused as they both heard Justin calling for him. “Babe, I’m sorry, Justin needs something.” 

 

“It’s okay.” 

 

“I love you.” Lance reminded firmly. “Okay? I love you so much, and it’s okay, alright? And that girl is going to be alright.” 

 

“I know. I love you too.” 

 

They hung up, and Keith took a few deep breaths before standing and walking down the hall. He looked through the window at where the tiny galra girl was sleeping. She had been cleaned up, and an IV was attached to her tiny wrist. 

 

_ This ring means I choose you, Lance. It means I promise to put you before everything else. It means I won’t give up on you. Ever. It means I’m going to spend every day finding ways to prove that I love you more than anything else. It means I love you enough to burn out the stars, and I won't ever let you forget that.  _

 

Keith’s heart broke just a tiny bit more. 

 

Back on Earth, Lance walks into the kitchen. 

 

“Lance, the baos kind of...melted.” Justin poked at the goopy bread mess in the steamer. “Again.” 

 

“Just dump it in the trash.” Lance sighed. “Grab your coat, we can get take out on the way.” 

 

“Where are we going?” 

 

“Home Depot. I wanna repaint the guest room.” 

 

“Right now?” 

 

Lance’s face was determined. “Yep. Right now.” 

 

~*~

 

“Ouch!” 

 

Keith winced and gently unwound the tiny fingers from his hair. The baby giggled and gripped his fingers instead.

 

“You’re a little monster, you know that?” Keith sighed. 

 

She laughed in his face. 

 

“Paladin Kogane-McClain?” 

 

Keith looked up see the familiar cat-like face of the nurse in charge of the maternity ward. The galra girl was basically her only charge right now. 

 

“I need to give her a few shots.” 

 

“Oh, right.” Keith adjusted his hold on the girl to pass her over. 

 

“Would you like to hold her?” the nurse asked kindly. “The vaccine-guns don’t hurt, but sometimes kids get scared. It helps if someone holds them.” 

 

“Oh, uh...sure.”

 

Keith settled the girl in his lap again, letting his hands fold over her knees. She lightly patted his fingers. 

 

“What are these for?” Keith asked. 

 

“Just standard galra immunizations. Terfly flu, mumps, fur weevils. The usual.” 

 

“The usual.” Keith echoed. 

 

“Such a good girl.” the nurse cooed as she disinfected the girl’s arm. “So brave. Yes, you are.” 

 

“Any word on her parents?” Keith asked. 

 

The nurse paused and met Keith’s eyes, then gave a tiny shake of her head. Keith sighed and rubbed a small circle with his thumb. 

 

“Okay, one, two, three, oh! See, doesn’t hurt. No pain. Oh, yes, so brave.” The nurse reached for a different tool. “And just one more.” 

 

“What are these?” Keith asked. 

 

“Earth vaccinations.” The nurse smiled. “Just in case.” 

 

~*~

 

“Keith, we have to leave soon.” 

 

“I know.” 

 

Keith didn’t look up from where he looked in on the girl. He had started calling her Delilah in his head. Lance had an Aunt Delilah, and he had always liked that name. 

 

Delilah was still tiny, and too skinny, but she wasn’t too pale anymore. Her dark purple hair flared out at the ends. Tiny little fangs flashed at him every time she smiled.

 

“Keith.” 

 

“I’m coming.” 

 

Acxa huffed and rolled her eyes. “By the stars, just bring her home with you.” 

 

~*~

 

“Hey, babe!” 

 

Keith was almost blinded by the smile that beamed out at him from the com. 

 

“What’s up?” 

 

“You know the little girl I found? The galra girl?” 

 

“Uh-huh?” 

 

“Well, they haven’t found her parents yet. And she doesn’t have anywhere to go.” 

 

“Spit it out, babe.” 

 

“Well, we have that spare room.” 

 

Lance sighed, but he was smiling. “You do realize I repainted the room as soon as you told me about her, right?” 

 

Keith chuckled. “You know me too well.” 

 

“What’s her name?” 

 

“Delilah.” Keith said quietly. “Her name is Delilah.” 

 

“That’s perfect. I painted the room purple. Like lilacs.”

 

“What does that have to do with anything?”

 

“Delilah is a purple sort of name, don’t you think?” 

 

Keith let out a long breath. “Yeah. I suppose it is.” 

 

~*~

 

Justin is pretty good at baseball, it turns out. He probably won’t end up being scouted or with a scholarship or anything, but he works hard and practices. God knows why, but he really wants to play catcher. Maybe because no one can see him behind all the padding and the mask. The school team already has a catcher, but he’s in eighth grade and will be going to the high school next year. So Justin plays shortstop and practices to be catcher next year. 

 

But lately, he seems to be spending more and more time at practice. 

 

At first, Lance just thinks he only notices it because he’s at home all the time now. He and Keith had both taken two weeks off to settle Delilah in, but Lance had opted to take a leave of absence while Keith went back to work. 

 

Lance likes being a stay at home dad. Delilah is still malnourished and doesn’t seem to be verbal, which makes the Galra doctors concerned. Galra children don’t start to talk until much longer after human kids, but even still Delilah is behind schedule. So he talks to her as much as possible as he carries her around the house to do chores. There’s an influx of toys to play with from family and friends. 

 

He won’t admit it, but he also likes that he can spend the first hour of his day in his bathrobe. 

 

He thought he'd get to spend more time with Justin, too. But Justin is rarely home, and when he is he says he has homework. Lance's mom reassures him that all kids are like that at that age, but he's not sure. But Lilah takes up so much of his time...

 

“Hey, Lilah.” Lance sings one morning. 

 

The little girl is already awake, sitting up in her bed and staring wide eyed up at Lance. Her ears perk up a little when she sees him. 

 

“Let’s go make everyone breakfast.” Lance says softly, reaching in and picking her up. He attaches her to his hip and brushes hair away from her face. “We should cut your hair soon.” 

 

The doctors think Delilah is about two years old. She’s curious. Walking around the house to grab at anything she can reach. She’ll eat anything they put in front of her. She just won’t talk. 

 

Some people say trauma. Some people say not everyone develops at the same pace. Lance keeps trying. 

 

Though this morning, he’s tired. Keith has been sick, and his cough kept Lance up all night. It was just a cold that Justin brought home and passed it to Lance, then Keith, but Keith seems to be affected more by it. Thankfully Delilah seems to be immune. Lance carefully puts Delilah in her high-chair, and opens a yogurt pouch for her. Delilah quickly grabbed it and started sucking it down. 

 

Lance is halfway through making breakfast when Justin slinks into the room. He practically falls into his chair at the table and puts his head down. 

 

“Hey, kiddo.” Lance smiled. “Hungry?” 

 

He got a grunt in response. 

 

“Did you use your face scrub?” 

 

Justin mumbled something into his arms. 

 

“What?” 

 

Justin lifted his head. “It makes my skin feel tight.” 

 

“Well, that’s why you use the moisturizer I have you after.” Lance tossed a few pieces of toast onto a plate with eggs and put it in front of him. “You have to use it every day, or your skin will never clear up.” 

 

“Maybe I don’t want it to clear up.” Justin said sullenly. 

 

Lance rolled his eyes up to the ceiling. Sullen Justin was a relatively new development. 

 

“Do what you want.” Lance said lightly instead. “Do you have your practice clothes for after school?” 

 

“Yeah.” 

 

“When’s your morning practice again?” 

 

“Tomorrow.” 

 

“We’re gonna wake up on time, right?”

 

“Yeah.” 

 

Lance made up Keith’s plate and glanced at the clock. “Justin, watch Lilah for a minute?” 

 

There was no response, but Lance left them alone anyway. He yawned as he walked through the house and up the stairs, leaving the baby gates open. The stairbasket was overflowing with Lilah’s toys. It was very clear who was queen here. 

 

“Keith? Babe?” Lance poked his head into the bedroom. “Breakfast is ready.” 

 

Keith was sitting on the edge of the bed, his clothes mostly on but his uniform shirt was loose and unbuttoned. “Okay.” Keith said, his voice cracking and just sounding dead. “I’ll be down in a minute.” 

 

Lance sighed and walked over to his husband, pushing hair out of his eyes and feeling his damp forehead. Keith sighed and leaned into his touch. 

 

“You’re taking a sick day.” Lance decided. 

 

“Can’t. Have to go to work.” 

 

“Keith, you look like shit.” 

 

“Aren’t you supposed to love me or something?” 

 

“This is love. True love. As paid for.” 

 

“I would like a return, please.” 

 

Keith’s sentence ended with a hacking cough, and Lance rolled his eyes and pushed the uniform shirt off his shoulders. He has Keith undressed and burritoed in blankets in seconds. Lance glanced towards the door, but sat on the edge of the bed. 

 

Keith groaned and rolled onto his side. “You’re so good at undressing me.” 

 

Lance couldn’t help but to smirk. “Comes with the territory.” He brushed more heavy black hair out of his face. “Do you want anything?” 

 

“Water.” 

 

“Okay. Give me a minute.” 

 

Lance kissed his forehead and left. Downstairs, the toddler had spit up yogurt and was currently playing with it while the almost-teenager ignored it and stared a little too intently at his eggs. 

 

“Justin.” Lance hissed, snatching up a damp washcloth. “I asked you to watch her.” 

 

Justin shrugged. 

 

“The bus is going to be here soon. Is your bag packed?” Lance quickly wiped down Lilah’s face and hands, which of course made her start crying and reaching for him while Lance tried to take care of the high-chair tray. “Oh, honey, please don’t.” 

 

“I need my lunch.” 

 

“I’ll give you money.” Lance said hastily. “You have your practice bag?” 

 

“You already asked me that.” 

 

Delilah is still crying, but at least Lance has her and the chair clean. Her pajamas are a mess, and Keith is upstairs sick and Justin’s being weird. Lance pulls Delilah from her chair and bounces her gently. 

 

“Honey, it’s okay. Oh, I know you hate it but we have to keep your fur clean.” The bus outside honked. “Justin, bus is here.” 

 

“I can hear it.”

 

“Have a good day! Work hard!” Lance followed him through the house. Delilah was still wailing. “And ask Darren when he wants to come over to work on your history project, okay?” 

 

“Yes. Okay, bye.” 

 

“Bye.” 

 

Justin jogged down the front walk to meet the bus. Lance stood in the doorway and watched him, noting how his jeans were a little short. He could have sworn they just bought him new ones. Delilah finally quieted, her large gold eyes widened as Justin disappeared from view. 

 

“Come on.” Lance said to Delilah after the bus drove off. “Let’s bring Daddy some water. Can you say daddy? Not yet? It’s okay, we’ll get there. I won’t give up.” 

 

Lance filled a glass with water, took it up to Keith, and then changed Delilah out of her dirty pajamas and into a clean dress and new diaper. They checked on Keith again, who was sitting up in bed and reading something on his data pad. 

 

“Keith.” Lance groaned. 

 

“I’m fine.” Keith said, ending with a cough. “Just reading some emails.” 

 

“You all are driving me nuts.” Lance growled, dropping Delilah on the bed and snatching away the data pad. “Can you just...be a normal human being and bitch about being sick?” 

 

“Half galra.” 

 

“Oooh, so special.” Lance rolled his eyes. “You’re taking the day off and getting some rest. I mean it.” 

 

Keith coughed again. 

 

“Can I leave Lilah with you for a bit? I want to shower.” 

 

“Sure.” 

 

When Lance was done with his shower, Keith was asleep and Lilah was snuggled up close to him. She was happily watching a rabbit cartoon on the data pad that Keith put on for her. It's adorable, but if Lance leaves her there she'll get bored and fall off the bed or worse, wake Keith up.

 

"Come on." Lance says after he finished dressing. "Let's let daddy get some sleep."

 

~*~

 

Lance does some laundry and plays play-dough with Delilah, and checks in on Keith every now and then. He heats up some bone broth for Keith’s lunch, and feeds Delilah a bit of the broth and the bright orange mac and cheese from a box that she loves so much. When she laughs, her little fangs gleam at him. 

 

Lance loves making her laugh. It’s the closest thing to her speaking that he gets. 

 

Delilah goes down for a nap and Keith wakes up. He doesn’t seem feverish anymore, but he’s still wet coughing. Lance tries to make him take some medicine, and he won’t, and they bicker about it. 

 

Delilah wakes up, and Keith offers to watch her while Lance goes to the store and picks up Justin. Pidge is coming over for dinner later, and Lance would like to feed her something other than baby food. 

 

“Should we cancel on Pidge?” Lance asked as Keith started hacking again. 

 

“Lance, I’m fine. I don’t even know why you made me stay home.” 

 

“Because you needed sleep and I care about you.” Lance plucked Delilah out of Keith’s lap. “I’ve got her. You rest before Pidge comes over to terrorize us and spoil our kids. There’s more broth in the fridge if you want it.” 

 

The shopping trip is uneventful. The store is thankfully empty, so Lance doesn’t have to pretend to ignore his audience of yoga moms like he usually does. He used to attract enough attention being a paladin. People recognized him. Now they stare at the combination of the human adult and the galra baby. 

 

Lance parks in the school lot and stares at nothing. In her carseat, Delilah kicks her feet and stares at the window, bored. They wait for twenty minutes, and see no one. Lance glances at the dash clock, which barely seems to change, and switches to the time to Altean units just to be sure. 

 

Where the hell is Justin? 

 

Finally, Steve Allen, the baseball coach, leaves the building. And Lance rolls down the window and leans out. “Hey! Steve!” 

 

Steve picked up his head. “Hey, Lance. What’s up?” 

 

“Where’s Justin?” 

 

“Uhm…” 

 

“I’m picking him up from practice?” 

 

Steve furrows his brow. “We didn’t have practice today, Lance.” 

 

Lance just about stopped breathing.

 

“Is everything okay?” 

 

Lance rolled up the window, and reversed out of his spot, and started driving. Where to go? Where would Justin go? He reached forward and dialed the first number he thought of and was greeted with a cough. 

 

“Hello?” Keith asked shakily. 

 

“Is Justin home?” Lance asked. 

 

“What?”

 

“Did Justin come home?”

 

“No, I thought you were picking him up...Lance, is everything okay?” 

 

“What? Yeah. Everything’s fine.”

 

“Lance, you’re a shitty liar.” 

 

Lance paused, then hastily said, “Everything is gonna be fine, I just have to find Justin.” 

 

“You lost our son?”

 

“I didn't lose him! It’ll be fine! I’ll be back soon! Bye!”

 

“Lance!” 

 

“Say bye Lilah!” 

 

“Lance!” 

 

Lance ended the call, and closed his eyes tightly. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Then he did what every full grown adult does, and called his mom. 

 

“Mijo! So good to hear from you! How’s Princess Delilah? Is she talking? Hello Prin-”

 

“Mama!” Lance cut across. “Have you seen Justin?”

 

“Justin? He’s here. He said you told him to come here because you had to take Keith to the doctor.” 

 

Lance blinked. “Right.” 

 

“Are you coming to get him?” 

 

“Yeah, I’m on my way. Uh, don’t tell him I’m coming.” 

 

“What?” 

 

“See you soon! Bye!” 

 

Lance hung up and took a few deep breaths. Okay, so Justin hadn’t been kidnapped. He had technically run away, which raised some interesting questions, but Lance knew where he was so it was okay. 

 

“It’s going to be okay.” he told Delilah. 

 

She stared at him. 

 

“It’s going to be okay.” he repeated, throwing on his blinker and directing the car towards his mother’s house. 

 

At his mother’s house, Rachel greets him at the door. She had recently split with her husband and was staying at their parents house until she got back on her feet. As soon as the door swung open, she had her arms extended. 

 

“Baby!” she cried happily. “Gimme!” 

 

Lance sighed and passed over Delilah. “Where’s Justin?” 

 

“Out back.” Rachel pushed hair out of Delilah’s eyes. “Ohhhh, poor baby with two disaster dads who can’t do hair.” 

 

“Rude.” Lance says, pushing past her. “It’s been a rough week, okay? Watch her for a minute?” 

 

“Of course. We’ll have so much fun with Lita, won’t we, baby?” 

 

Lance walked through the house, breathing in the zesty aromatics of his mother’s cooking. His father is sitting in the living room reading a book, which he lowers as Lance passes. 

 

“Lance? Is everything alright?” 

 

Lance’s mother steps out of the kitchen. 

 

“Lance! Don’t walk in the house with your shoes on! I raised you better than that!” 

 

Lance is already out the back door. He sighs in relief when he opens the door and finds Justin sitting at the edge of the deck. 

 

“Justin! You scared the crap out of me!” 

 

Justin doesn’t turn around, but he mumbles a ‘hey, Lance’.

 

“Why are you here?” Lance asked. “Why did you lie about practice?”

 

Justin shifted in his spot, but doesn’t answer. Lance sighed and sat next to him. 

 

“Is this you running away?” Lance asked quietly. 

 

Justin shrugged, and it hurt Lance more than anything he could have said. 

 

“Why?” Lance begged. “Are you unhappy with us? Is it school? Justin, come on kiddo, talk to me. We can fix this.” 

 

“I don’t think you want to.” Justin bit out. 

 

“Why would I not want to?” 

 

“Because you have Lilah now.” Justin said savagely. “I’m the starter kid, right? The one you get to make sure you don’t screw it up? Before you try your luck with a baby?” 

 

“Justin.” Lance said softly. “That’s not true.” 

 

“Then why did Keith bring her home?” 

 

“Same reason I brought you home.” Lance reminded gently. “Because he saw someone hurting, who needed our help, and we’re in a position to stop that hurt.” 

 

Justin stayed silent. Lance bit his lip. 

 

“Justin, I’m sorry. We never asked you...we should have asked you if you wanted a sister.”

 

“She is not my sister.” Justin said harshly. 

 

“Well, she’s our daughter.” Lance said quietly. “And...we think of you as our son.” 

 

“Keith doesn’t.” 

 

“Did you know Keith doesn’t know the first thing about baseball? But he’s been staying up late every night watching sports news casts so when we go to your first game he doesn’t look like a complete idiot.” 

 

“Really?” 

 

“Why would I lie about that?” Lance looked out at the garden. “I get why you might think he...doesn’t care. I thought that too, for a long time. But with Keith, you have to know what to look for. And you can’t give up, either. I almost gave up on him so many times for the same reasons as you.” 

 

“Why didn’t you?” 

 

“This family does not give up on eachother. Not ever.” Lance said firmly. “If you want to give up on us, that’s fine. But we’re not giving up on you, and we’re not giving up on Lilah, either.” 

 

Big, fat silent tears were falling down Justin’s face, and Lance wrapped an arm around him and pulled him tight into his chest. Justin came easily, collapsing against him and letting the tears soak his shirt. 

 

“Lilah’s going to need you too, you know.” Lance told him softly. “She’s going to need an older brother to help her when me and Keith fall short. Someone to protect her when we can’t. It’s a lot of responsibility, but I think you’ll be really good at it.” 

 

“What if I’m not?” 

 

Lance gave him his best reassuring smile. “Then it will be her turn not to give up on you, won’t it?” Lance paused. “I know that...right now it feels a little unfair. Everyone’s attention is on her, but it doesn’t mean we love you less or we don’t want you anymore. Okay? If anything, it makes me sad because we’re going to have the next sixteen years with her in the house and we only have you for seven.” 

 

Justin sniffled and nodded. Lance waited until the tears had dried before suggesting they collect Delilah and get back home. Inside, Rachel had pinned back Delilah’s hair with cheap tin barrettes, which made Lance internally groan. Delilah liked to yank them out of her hair and pull out fine lilac strands in the process. 

 

The car ride is mostly silent, with Justin staring out his window and Delilah tugging relentlessly on the barrettes. Lance tries to ask about Justin’s day at school and if he had written any stories lately, but he only gets one-word answers and gives up. He has a feeling that Justin is trying to pull himself together before they get home. 

 

They pull into the driveway just before Pidge, who gets out of her car wearing a surgical mask. Keith is waiting for them on the porch with a mug of something hot in his hands. 

 

“Hysterical.” he tells Pidge flatly. 

 

They can’t see her grin, but her eyes crinkle. “I thought so too.” She approaches and gives Justin a high-five. “Hey, Justin! Did you finish the story about the robots yet?” 

 

He perks up, just a little, and says, “Yeah. It’s done.” 

 

“Well what are we waiting for? Show me! Auntie Pidge loves some good old fashioned robot lit!” 

 

Buoyed by the enthusiasm, Justin lead her inside the house. Keith frowned at Lance as he pulled Delilah from her carseat and carried her towards the house. 

 

“Everything alright?” he asked uncertainty. 

 

“I’ll tell you about it later.” Lance promised. “Hey, have I told you that I love you and our family, even when you leave the house underdressed when you’re sick?” 

 

Keith smiled. “I love you too, even when you lose our son.”

 

“I did not lose him! You know what, we’ll discuss this later. Can you take Lilah while I get the groceries?” 

 

“Sure. Before you lose her too.” 

 

“Oh, my God.”

 

~*~

 

Summer means the end of baseball through school, but Justin’s coach gets him signed up for a summer team instead. He can play catcher on this team, which he loves. He loves the over-sized catcher's mitt Tio Marco had dug out of storage for him. He loves the burn in his legs from crouching. He loves supporting his teammates, and how much they trust him. 

 

Keith, Lance and Delilah come to every single game. Seeing them in the stands, cheering for him, getting overly excited about these meaningless games because they’re not meaningless for Justin, it just makes his heart soar. 

 

Today is a particularly good day. A would-be home runner had collided with Justin on home plate and gotten his knee in his stomach, not that it mattered because Justin already had his glove around the ball and he wasn’t letting go. All the parent’s were screaming, but he could have sworn he heard Keith and Lance above them all. When he looked up, Delilah was standing on the metal bleachers and jumping up and down. 

 

When the game is over, Justin takes a fresh gatorade from the small cooler Lance brought to the game. It’s ice cold and tastes like stale water, but Justin chugs half of it anyway and sits next to his best friend Darren, who plays first base. Lance affectionately mussed his hair before heading off with Keith to talk to Coach Steve. 

 

Not far away, Delilah is spinning in circles so her white sundress flares out around her legs. She had finally started to speak a few months before hand. Lance had recently enrolled her in dance classes and she really loved them. Before dinner every night Keith would help her practice her routine, which honestly shocked Justin more than anything. 

 

“Keith’s a great dancer.” Lance told him the first time it happened. “He just has to be in the right mood. But we used to go out dancing all the time when we were dating.”

 

There’s a group of older kids near her, and Justin frowned. They were looking at Delilah, and Justin didn’t trust the mocking tones that floated over. Before he really knew what he was doing, Justin was standing. 

 

“Justin?” Darren asked. 

 

Justin walked towards the galran girl. “Delilah!” 

 

“Dude! Where you going?” 

 

Now that he’s closer, he can hear the older kids. 

 

“Hey, Freak! Come over here!”

 

“Yeah, we’ve got a present for you.” 

 

“Jeeze, who let her out of the zoo?”

 

“I can’t believe they let them on this planet.” 

 

Delilah had stopped her dancing and was staring at the older kids with wide eyes. Her tail twitched nervously at the bottom of her dress. Justin finally reached her and firmly stepped between her and the older kids. His blood is pounding in his ears, but he tries to keep a calm voice and smile so she doesn’t get scared. 

 

“Delilah, you alright?” Justin asked, looking into her wide yellow eyes. 

 

She relaxed and smiled up at him, tiny fangs gleaming in the afternoon sun. “Yeah.” 

 

“You sure?” 

 

“Uh-huh.” 

 

“You know it?” a scornful voice asked. 

 

Justin looked over his shoulder. The one who had spoken was tall and had straw yellow hair and crooked teeth. He had the same look to him that Justin’s childhood bully, Tommy Wiles, always had. 

 

“ _ She _ is my sister.” 

 

The boy smirked. “Don’t you mean pet?” 

 

Something snapped in Justin, and the next thing he knew he was launching himself at the boy, his fist connecting with nose. Someone screamed. Justin had pushed the boy down and they rolled in the dirt, fighting to push each other down. 

 

It doesn’t last long. It’s maybe a full minute before Justin is being ripped off the kid and dangled in the air for a moment before being set down. He tries to surge forward again, but a strong arm held him back. 

 

“Justin!” Keith was shouting in his ear. “Stop it!” 

 

A really pissed off blonde man in helping the other kid off the ground, and there’s an audience around them. Delilah was safely gathered in Lance’s arms. Oh and Lance looks pissed. 

 

“What the hell, Justin?” Lance demanded. “This isn’t like you.”

 

“He called Delilah an animal.” 

 

Lance’s face hardened into something that Justin had never seen before. His eyes blazed with a blue fire that would cut down anything in its path. And it’s in this moment, two years since Lance and Keith adopted him, that Justin finally understands what the other paladins mean when they talk about him. How the Blue Paladin was the most level headed in a firefight, and under all the smiles and corny jokes was a hardened warrior. 

 

And maybe Keith and Lance just made a little bit more sense. 

 

“That doesn’t mean you can try and maul a kid.” Lance says incredulously. “We’ll talk about this later. Delilah, stay here with Justin and Daddy.” 

 

Lance put Delilah down, then turned and walked towards the other kid and his dad. The kid had a bloody nose. The dad still looked pissed, but then when he turned and saw Lance. And then Keith behind him. And the recognition slid across his face. 

 

“Justin?” 

 

Justin turned and looked at Keith. His eyes had turned yellow, like Delilah’s, but his touch was gentle when he took Justin’s hands to examine his scraped knuckles. 

 

“Good job.” Keith says quietly. 

 

Justin looked up at him, shocked. 

 

“Don’t do it again, but we both would have reacted the same way.” Keith sighed. “I need to teach you how to throw a punch.” 

 

~*~

 

Delilah’s first word is “Don’t!” She shouts it one Saturday morning when Lance is leaving to have lunch with his sisters, leaving her behind with Keith and Justin. It’s so loud and such a surprise that Justin drops and breaks his bowl of cereal. 

 

After the initial word, it’s impossible to shut her up. 

 

Rubina, Lance’s mom, bullies her son into bringing the family to mass before brunch on Easter. Delilah is four and Justin is fourteen. The whole thing is quite an ordeal and honestly Keith doesn’t think he or Lance have any chance of getting into heaven anyway. Rubina argues that they should go for the kids, but honestly it all probably just reminds Justin of his old school and Delilah could, quite frankly, care less. 

 

But they go. Lance wrestles Justin into a pastel blue polo and khakis, and Delilah into a pale pink dress, and makes Keith braid his hair before loading everyone into the car. Delilah is half asleep in her car seat, and they all pray that she stays that way through the service. Sitting in Keith’s lap, she starts to wake up.

 

No one is that lucky. 

 

“Daddy?” Delilah asks loudly during the Second Reading. Literally the entire church turns around to look at them. 

 

“Shhh!” Keith whispers desperately. “Whisper, okay sweetheart?” 

 

“Daddy?” Delilah whispers. 

 

“What?” 

 

“Why are we here?” 

 

Keith and Lance exchange a look. 

 

“Because Abuela thinks it’s good for you.” Keith responds lightly. 

 

“Does Nana Krolia think it’s good for me?” 

 

“I don’t know.”

 

“But why?” 

 

Rachel leaned forward and frowned down at them. “You guys okay?” 

 

“Yeah.” Lance muttered. “Keith, give her here.” 

 

Keith transferred the girl from his lap to Lance’s, giving Justin a reassuring smile. 

 

“Papa, why are we here?” 

 

“So you can listen to the priests’ story. Be quiet so you can listen.” 

 

Delilah is quiet for a few minutes, then she gets bored and crawls back into Keith’s lap. “Justin! Justin!” 

 

“What, Lilah?” 

 

“Tell me a story.” 

 

“Not now.” 

 

“But I wanna hear one!” 

 

Lance is shooting Keith  _ the look _ , so Keith gathers her up and stands, quietly excusing himself as they slip down the pew of Lance’s family. Rubina looks irritated, though whether it’s at Delilah’s talking or Keith taking her out of the service he doesn’t know. 

 

“Daddy, where are we going?” Delilah asks. 

 

“Just to get some air.” Keith says lightly. “Justin can tell you a story later, okay?” 

 

“Okay.” she pauses. “Why doesn’t Cosmo come to church with us?” 

 

“Because Abuela doesn’t think he needs to.” 

 

“That’s not fair.” Delilah said seriously. 

 

“You’re telling me, kid.” Keith muttered. 

 

The rest of the service must go okay without Delilah chattering away, and the extended family piles into cars to head to the McClain family home for brunch. The kids finally received their Easter baskets and were running around in a sugar-induced haze. Delilah giggled like a maniac as she tried to keep up with the older kids. 

 

They have to get to Shiro’s at some point, but it seems less and less likely to happen. Lance keeps dropping hints but his mother keeps coming up with excuses for why they have to stay. Christmas had been like this too. And Thanksgiving. And Lance’s birthday. 

 

Lance and his mother had disappeared inside the house a while ago, and Keith decided maybe it was time for one last ditch effort to head for Shiro’s. He grabbed a couple of dirty plates and walked in the back door, but stopped short when he heard the yelling. 

 

Rubina was yelling hysterically in Spanish, and Keith didn’t understand a word. Lance didn’t seem to be doing much talking back, and then Justin and Delilah were mentioned. 

 

Something slammed down, and Rubina fell silent. 

 

“Don’t you dare drag my children into this.” Lance said in a low voice. “Or Keith. You have no idea.” 

 

“Lance - “

 

Lance was already coming through the door, stopping short when he saw Keith. “Oh, hey - “ 

 

“We’re going home.” Keith said firmly. “Go get the kids, I’ll meet you at the car.” 

 

Lance opened his mouth to argue, but Keith was already moving past him into the kitchen, where Rubina stared out the window at where the kids were playing. Keith ignored her as he dumped the dirty plates in the sink and walked back out before he could say something he regretted. 

 

Keith finds Lance in the process of saying his goodbyes to his siblings, and hurries the process by gathering the kids’ things and throwing everything into the trunk. Everyone gives him a wide berth, recognizing the signs of a pissed off Paladin. Even Delilah is silent as she’s strapped into her carseat. 

 

The car ride home is quiet. They’ll get home just in time to put Delilah to bed, and Justin had some homework to finish. Lance stares out the window and taps his fingers to the beat of the song on the radio. 

 

At home, Keith gives Delilah her bath and Lance tucks her in, telling her a story as he gently folds her blankets down around her. (“Once upon a time, there was a boy who lost his brother.”) Keith heated up some more substantial dinner food for Justin, who suddenly seems capable of eating incredible amounts of food, and tries to help him with his math homework but gives up. (“Ask Lance, he’s always been better at this stuff.”)

 

After doing the dishes, Keith finds Lance in their bedroom. 

 

“We’re not going to their house for the holidays ever again.” Keith said firmly. 

 

Lance shot him a look. “You don’t even know what she was saying.” 

 

“I don’t care.” Keith said sharply. “It’s like this every time! She monopolizes our time and then picks a fight. We haven’t seen Shiro or my mother on a holiday since before we were engaged. I’ll bet she’d have us for Galra holidays too, if she could figure out what they were.” 

 

“Stop being dramatic.” Lance snapped. “What do you suggest we do, anyway? Not see them? She’s my mother, Keith.” 

 

“If they want to see us on a holiday, they can come here.” 

 

“Don’t be ridiculous.” 

 

“I’m not. We’re not leaving the house on a holiday again.” 

 

“God, Keith.” Lance looked at the ceiling. “We can’t just...cut her out. They’re her grandkids.” 

 

“Well they’re my kids! And you’re my husband! And I’m tired of letting her walk all over this family.” 

 

“Well maybe you shouldn’t have married a latino then!” 

 

“Well maybe you should have warned me I’d be marrying your mother!” 

 

"Well maybe if you didn't have to handle everything for me -"

 

"When have I ever done that?"

 

"You do it all the time!"

 

"If this is about when we were kids - "

 

"That has nothing to do with this! This is about you butting in to my fight -"

 

"Well maybe if you just told me why the hell she always does this, I wouldn't have to!"

 

"What do you want me to tell you, Keith? That you aren't good enough for her? That the kids aren't?"

 

In his room, Justin listens to the raised voices and stares out the window. He couldn’t hear any specific words, but the voices are sharp and tense. Keith and Lance rarely fought like this, though their friends had told him that they used to. Justin feels a little scared, and he doesn’t quite understand why. 

 

There’s a click, and he turns around to see his door open slightly and Delilah slip in. She’s wearing her blue nightie printed with Cinderella, nervously playing with the end of her tail. 

 

“Delilah? Go back to bed.”

 

“You promised you’d tell me a story.” 

 

He hadn’t. But he sighed and held out his hands. Delilah ran across the room and Justin picked her up and slid her into his lap. 

 

“Didn’t Papa already tell you a story?” Justin asked. 

 

“I like yours better.”

 

“Why?” 

 

“Papa’s are all true.” 

 

Well, that was that. 

 

In the other room, Lance and Keith’s arguing had quieted, but the air still hummed with tense voices. 

 

“Once upon a time,” Justin started, “there was a Galra princess who loved to dance.” 

 

Keith sleeps on the couch. It's the third time ever that he and Lance have been under the same roof and not sharing a bed since they moved into the tiny room on the Garrison base a million years ago. There's no whispered nothings or soft kiss goodnight, and Keith's heart somehow is heavy and empty at the same time. He falls into an uneasy sleep. He used to find it so hard to share a bed with Lance, who sat up late and tossed and turned all night, and now he can barely close his eyes.

 

He wakes with a start and his fists raised, but there's a strong grip on his wrists.

 

"Shhh, it's me."

 

Even in the dark, Lance looks sad. The light from the hall illuminated his red-rimmed eyes. He had been crying. Keith feels a tidal wave of guilt crash over him. He had done that. He knew that arguing with his mother was hard enough on Lance, and he just had to go and make it worse. 

 

“I’m sorry.” Keith blurts out.

 

“It’s alright.” 

 

“No, it’s not.” Keith sits up and rubs his eyes. “Shit, Lance, I just...I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have...I shouldn’t butt in. I just hate it when she gets like that and bitches at you for no reason and it doesn’t help that I can’t understand her.”

 

“I know.” Lance said quietly. “I should’ve told you...I just don’t want to worry you, you know? She’s always going to wish that I ended up with a normal life and normal kids. Some normal version of you. But I wouldn’t trade any of you for the entire universe.” 

 

“Normal version of me, huh? Not some pretty girl?” 

 

“You’re the only one for me, babe. In any universe.” 

 

“One of these days, you’re going to smarten up and leave.” Keith whispered. 

 

“Never.” Lance nudged him gently. “Move over, my husband’s mad at me and I can’t sleep in our bed.” 

 

Keith snorted but scooted over, pressing himself to the back of the couch while Lance stretched out next to him. “Won’t this make him more mad?” 

 

“Oh, definitely. He’s the super jealous type.” 

 

Keith spread the blanket over both of them and sighed when Lance wrapped his arms around him like he’d never let go. He caught his lips on his temple. 

 

“Did you mean what you said?” Lance whispered. “About staying here on holidays?” 

 

Keith considered. “Do you want me to?” 

 

“I don’t know. Can I think about it?” 

 

“Of course.” Keith moved his lips into his hair. “But really...we have to do something. We can’t keep showing up in time for dessert at Shiro’s.”

 

“Yeah.” 

 

Lance still looked miserable, so Keith did his best to pull him closer. 

 

“For what it’s worth, I wouldn’t let you leave to go have a normal life.” Keith whispered. “I don’t think the kids would either.” 

 

“Yeah. I know.” Lance looked up at him, uncertain. “Do you still love me?” 

 

“Enough to burn out the stars.” Keith reminded, before kissing him with all he was worth. 

 

~*~

****

**So you showed me around your town**   
**To hell again and back**   
**Our love has served to alienate**   
**All the friends you depend on**   
**I know it might seem odd**   
**Cause your not the only one**   
**I remember my self as a lonely child**   
**So I was**   
**And you've got me wrong**


	2. The Middle Ages

“Smile Delilah! Say cheese!”

 

“Cheese!” 

 

The photo was snapped, and Lance rubbed his eyes furiously. “That’s perfect, chiquita.” 

 

Keith pretended to look at the photo over Lance’s shoulder. “Are you crying?” he whispered.

 

“ _No_ , there’s something in my eyes.” 

 

“Cause if you’re crying, you owe me ten bucks.” 

 

“I’m not crying, there’s just pollen or something. Delilah, stand next to your brother.” 

 

“Lance.” Justin groaned. “No photos.” 

 

“Come on, kiddo, you only have your first day of high school once!” 

 

“Yeah, exactly, high school. Not kindergarten.”

 

“Can you just let me have my moment, please?”

 

“Yeah, Justin, let Lance have his moment, before he cries all over us.” Keith grinned. 

 

Lance whipped around and pressed a finger into Keith’s chest. “You are heartless, Kogane.” 

 

Keith gave him a quick smile and a peck on the lips, then walked over to where the kids waited on the front porch. Delilah was wearing a cute black and white checkered dress and shiny black shoes, her hair tied back with a yellow bobble. Justin was sitting on the steps and wearing new jeans and a t-shirt advertising a band he and his best friend Darren liked. Their backpacks and Delilah’s dance bag were in a pile on the sidewalk. 

 

“Come on, family photo for your poor old dad.” Keith smiled, kneeling down and putting an arm around each kid to bring them in close. He looked up at Lance, who was blinking furiously and trying to hold it together. “Say cheese.” 

 

When the photo was taken, Keith told the kids to grab their bags and get in the car. When they were out of earshot, Lance buried his face in Keith’s shoulder and choked back a sob. 

 

“What’s so wrong?” Keith asked. 

 

“They’re so big.” Lance moaned. “We’re going to be dropping Justin off at college soon.” 

 

“We have plenty of time.” Keith soothed, rubbing his back. “Come on, we still have to actually get them to school.” 

 

Lance sniffed and let Keith lead him towards the car. “You know what the worst part is?” 

 

“What?” 

 

“Now I have to go back to work.” 

 

Keith laughed. He couldn’t help it. 

 

The photo would sit on their mantle basically forever, with the photo from their first birthday with Justin digging up fossils, and the day they took Delilah home. 

 

~*~

 

Delilah is very smart for a five year old. She’s always asking questions. But not “why is the sky blue” or “why can’t I see the tooth fairy”. Nope. Lance takes Justin out for their weekly library trip and Keith gets landed with, “Daddy, why do you carry that big knife?” 

 

Keith has always taken an approach of honesty with his children. He doesn’t sugarcoat, mainly because he’s bad at it. When Justin asks him anything, he knows he’s going to get a straight answer. But he didn’t expect to have to have this conversation with Delilah for at least a few more years. 

 

“It’s...a symbol.” Keith hesitated. 

 

Delilah stares up at him, wide eyed. They’re sitting in the front yard drinking lemonade and drawing on the driveway with chalk. Delilah was drawing a family portrait - red Keith with way too big eyebrows, blue Lance stretched ridiculously tall, yellow Justin who is somehow smaller than purple Delilah. 

 

“It says I’m a member of a club.” 

 

“Is Papi a part of the club?” 

 

“No, Papi isn’t allowed.” 

 

“Why not?” 

 

“It’s a special club for Galra. Nana Krolian is a part of the club.” 

 

“Oh.” She thought about it for a minute. “Will I get to join the club?” 

 

It takes a lot to keep his voice neutral when he says, “Only if you want to.” 

 

Delilah puts down her glass, and picks up the big blue stick of chalk. Keith lay down in the grass and stared up at the sky, fighting the urge to scream. 

 

He doesn’t want Delilah to join the Blade, which now acted as a sort of police force for the new Galra empire. The last thing he wants is his daughter to feel that she has to join out of a sense of duty. Or actually want to join. Not that he’d stop her, but God the Trials alone…

 

Keith has been beaten, held captive, lost, hopeless, and scarred a million times over. His husband, his end-all be-all love of his life, started the war by jumping in front of an explosion to save a friend, and ended it losing a limb in a completely different explosion. They had each separately suffered psychological trauma, some not even from fighting or being stuck in the vast emptiness of space without a way home. They both still had nightmares. The last thing he wanted was anything even close to that happening to Justin and Delilah. The whole point of him and Lance fighting the war was so that no one else would have to. 

 

Delilah joining the Blades...maybe by the time she’s old enough they would be defunct. What he really has to worry about is one of the Lions choosing her or Justin as the next pilot…

 

After a while, Delilah stops drawing and draped herself across Keith’s chest, giggling as he pretends to gripe about how big she is. They done in the sun for a bit, and Delilah asks, “Daddy, why do you love Papi?”

 

Christ. 

 

~*~

 

“When did you decide you wanted kids?” 

 

Keith rose an eyebrow at Shiro. "I never decided I wanted kids."

 

"You had to have decided at one point."

 

Keith rolled his eyes. Like many other things in his life, children had really been something that happened to him. And like most other things, it was something he could 100% blame on Lance. Not so much a conscious decision on his part. 

 

"Are you and Curtis thinking of adopting?"

 

Shiro sighed and ran fingers through his hair. "I just...I can't take care of kids. I can barely take care of myself."

 

"You honestly think Lance and I aren't screwing Justin and Delilah up?"

 

"They seem well adjusted."

 

"The other day, Lance told Delilah he cut off his leg to get the robotic one because he thought it would look cool. I only found out because her teacher sent home a note reminding us that amputation is not a joke, and certainly not one that Delilah can run around and tell all her little friends."

 

Shiro looked scandalized. 

 

"We'll be lucky if either of them make it out of high school. Point is, we were not prepared for either of our kids, and in spite of some major fuck ups Justin seems happy with us and Delilah hasn't turned into a psychopath yet so I think we're doing okay."

 

Shiro looked miserable as he turned his yogurt over with his spoon. 

 

“You did okay taking care of the four of us in space.” Keith reminded. 

 

“That was different. I just had to keep the four of you alive. Keep you and Lance from killing each other. Keep Hunk calm. Pidge probably would have been fine without any of us there.” 

 

“I mean, that’s basically parenting. Keep your kid from getting killed, killing someone else, keep them calm, and remind them that they need other people.” 

 

“You should write a baby book.” 

 

“Fuck off.” Keith stabbed at his tomato salad. Something was eating the lettuce Lance had been growing in the backyard so it had been a week of lettuce-less salads with lunch. “If you don’t like my answers, go ask Lance.” 

 

“I did. He said, the only important thing about parenting is making sure your kid doesn’t turn out to be an asshole.” 

 

Keith nodded, familiar with his husband’s wisdom. 

 

“You’re both useless.” Shiro mumbled. 

 

“Shiro, do you want to have kids with Curtis? Don’t say maybe, or later. Just, yes or no.” 

 

“Yes.” 

 

“Then you’re gonna be fine.” Keith shrugged. “I’d recommend going one at a time, not bringing on a pre-teen and a toddler a year apart like we did, but I think you guys will be great parents.” 

 

“Thanks, Keith.” 

 

“No worries. Hey, do you want to take Justin and Delilah for the weekend so Lance and I can have the house to ourselves?”

 

“Nice try, Keith.” 

 

“What? It’ll be good practice!” 

 

~*~

 

“Sit still!”

 

“I am!”

 

“Stiller!”

 

“Stiller isn’t a word, Lilah.”

 

Delilah ignored Justin and dragged a brush through his hair, which was...well…

 

Delilah wanted to play hair salon. She liked playing hair salon. Hair salon involved getting all of Papi’s hair products out of the bathroom and basically creating a chemical waste dump on someone’s head, in the name of style. Justin’s scalp felt tingly from all the mousse and hair spray, and he didn’t know how Delilah’s eyes weren’t watering. He’d have to wash his hair three times after this, but it would buy him a few hours of quiet later on. Kosmo was curled up on the couch next to Delilah.

 

“Why can’t you play this with Daddy?” Justin griped. “His hair is longer anyway.” 

 

“Papi says I’m not allowed.” Delilah pouted. 

 

Well, that made sense. Lance was weirdly obsessive about Keith’s hair. One time he ran home from lunch with his mother to stop him from getting it cut. 

 

“Justin, do you have a girlfriend?” 

 

Reflexively, Justin blushed. “No.” 

 

“Papi said you went to your girlfriend’s house yesterday.” 

 

Justin groaned. He had gone over to Katie Truman’s house after school to work on their social studies project. And, okay maybe he had a bit of a crush on her but that didn’t mean Katie was his girlfriend. 

 

“Katie’s not my girlfriend.” he told Delilah. “She doesn’t like-like me.” 

 

“Did you ask her?” 

 

“No.” 

 

“Then how do you _know_?” 

 

“Lilah, you can’t just ask people if they like you.” 

 

“Why not?” 

 

“I don’t...you just can’t.” 

 

Keith entered the room and Delilah cheered, “Daddy!” She abandoned her hairbrush and Justin’s head to scamper up the arm of the couch and launch herself at Keith. Keith was across the room in seconds to catch her, swing her around and tuck her into his hip. 

 

“Hey, munchkins.” Keith smiled and gently pushed hair away from her ears. “What’s going on here?” 

 

“We’re playing hair salon!” 

 

“That’s exciting.” Keith reached over to muss Justin’s hair, and quickly pulled away. “Seems very...sticky.” 

 

“Daddy! Daddy! How did you know Papi liked you?” 

 

Keith immediately got that look on his face that meant he was trying to find a vague way to answer the question. But what he would have had to lie about to answer this…

 

“Someone told me.” he said finally. 

 

“Justin won’t tell his girlfriend he likes her.” 

 

“She’s not. Ugh.” 

 

Justin and Delilah didn’t notice, but there was a change in Keith’s demeanor. His grip on Delilah tightened slightly as his head turned to look towards the back of the house. Kosmo sat up and cocked his head, listening to the same thing Keith had heard. He let out a low growl. 

 

He put the little girl on the couch as she started singing, “Justin’s got a guuurrl-friend,” and silently left the room, trying to filter out the noise of the kids. Justin was loudly protesting that he didn’t have a girlfriend, and Delilah was a baby and stupid. Which turned into an argument about Delilah not being a baby, and - 

 

“Lance?” Keith called softly. “That you?” 

 

Lance poked his head out of the kitchen. He was drying his hands with a dish rag. “I’m here, babe.” He paused, maybe noticing Keith’s tense demeanor. “What’s wrong?” 

 

Keith hesitated. “I think...there’s someone in the yard.” 

 

Lance put down his dish towel. “Where are the kids?” 

 

“Family room.” 

 

Lance crossed the room to the sideboard, unlocking a secret panel with a thumb print and retrieving the red and black bayards hidden within. He tossed the black one at Keith, and activated his own. 

 

Keith turned off the kitchen light, and then the dining room, and waiting in silence. The kids argued. Kosmo growled. 

 

There was a creak, as the mudroom door opened. Keith snarled and stormed into the kitchen, bayard gleaming in the dark, reflecting light from the bolts of energy Lance shot around him. A body crumpled against the wall, and Keith was already on the one in the door. 

 

In the family room, Justin’s heart leapt into his throat when he heard the noise. Completely forgetting about his argument, he slowly stood. Delilah fell silent. He stood there, paralzyed, as he heard someone running towards the family room. 

 

Lance appeared in the doorway. “Justin! Take Delilah and grab onto Kosmo’s collar!” 

 

“What - “

 

“Go!” 

 

Feeling like his brain was only vaguely in control of his body, Justin picked up Delilah, who was scared and fully displaying her fangs. Kosmo bounded over to them, and Justin grabbed his collar. 

 

The world crackled electric blue. 

 

They landed in a pile in the middle of a room filled with white furniture. Justin’s Aunt Allura scrambled up from her couch, blue eyes shimmering like liquid as she tightened her bathrobe around her. Justin’s scalp still stung from the product, and he felt dizzy. 

 

“Justin? Delilah? What’s...where are your parents?” 

 

The world wobbled, and Justin’s legs went out from under him. 

 

~*~

 

When Justin wakes up, Uncle Coran leads him into a sitting room. Lance is on a vid screen with Delilah. There’s a cut above his eyebrow. Justin sits on the floor behind Delilah and listens in. 

 

“It’s just for a little bit, okay chiquita?” Lance promises. “Daddy and I are going to come and get you as soon as we can. Listen to your brother, and be good for Auntie Allura and Uncle Coran.” 

 

“Okay.” 

 

“I love you so much, darling. Can I talk to Justin for a bit?” 

 

“Okay.” 

 

She hands Justin the screen, and Justin tries to give her a reassuring smile. He doesn’t think it turns out the way he wants it to. She takes Uncle Coran’s offered hand and they leave the room, the door quietly slides shut behind them. 

 

“Justin, I’m so sorry.” is the first thing Lance says. 

 

“What happened?” Justin asked quietly. 

 

Lance let out a long breath. “We don’t really know yet. There’s a few groups who could be responsible but...we never thought they’d come to our home. I’m so sorry. Are you okay? Coran said you fainted.” 

 

“Yeah. Just shock, I guess.” 

 

Lance has been a parent just long enough to not really believe him, and it shows on his face. 

 

“Are you hurt?” Justin asked. 

 

Lance looked confused for a second, then seemed to remember the cut on his face. “Oh, this. No, it looks worse than it is.”

 

“Where’s Keith?” 

 

A pained look flashed across Lance’s face. “He’s...pretty upset. You don’t want to talk to him until he calms down a bit.” 

 

More like Keith didn’t want to scare him and Delilah. He remembered his little league game when Justin attacked the kid who was threatening Delilah, and how Keith’s eyes glowed yellow. He remembered thinking that Lance’s cold fury was more terrifying than anything Keith could turn into. 

 

“Justin, I know...New Altea is probably the last place you want to be. In space. But me and Keith just want you and Delilah to be safe, okay? And we’ll bring you home as soon as it’s safe here.”

 

“How long?” 

 

Lance hesitated. “Soon. As soon as we can. I’m going to have your teachers send Coran your classwork so you can keep up, and I guess Delilah can join the Altean kids. Allura will take good care of you, okay?” 

 

“Yeah.” 

 

“It’s going to be okay.” Lance said firmly. “We’re going to bring you home, and everything will be back to normal soon. I promise.” 

 

“Okay.” 

 

“I love you both. Get some sleep. We’ll all be together again soon.” 

 

“I love you too.” Justin says quietly. 

 

It’s the first time he’s said it, and Lance smiles just a little. 

 

~*~

 

Being on New Altea is...strange. 

 

Justin supposes it’s supposed to be strange to him, it’s a different planet. There are some things that are familiar. All of the tech has been designed by his Aunt Pidge, so at least he can use it. And he’s had Altean food before, so that’s alright. Everyone is really nice to him and Delilah, which he’s grateful for. And Uncle Coran...well, he’s always been a little strange. 

 

Maybe the strangest thing is Aunt Allura. He doesn’t know Aunt Allura as well as the others. She only visits about once a year, usually in the summer. She’ll wear borrowed summer clothes and hang around the back yard, drinking lemonade and playing with Delilah. She always brings Justin books, and they talk about them. 

 

And even though she’s...she’s still Aunt Allura here. She holds Delilah’s hand as they walk through the Palace Gardens and names all the flowers for her. Right after breakfast on the first day she shows Justin the library and shows him how to use the translators. But here, she’s also Queen Allura. Everyone treats her with a strange reverence, and she’s always working. Even at night, after Delilah curls up and goes to sleep with Cosmo wrapped around her, Aunt Allura is always working. She’s not the soft-haired woman who lays in the grass and weaves flower crowns.

 

She doesn’t have a choice, Justin can see that. Same way Keith doesn’t have a choice, and now Lance, and Pidge, and Hunk, and Shiro. There’s always something. They’re always needed. There’s always an aide coming in to whisper something to the Queen during dinner and whisk her away, always a message dinging on her data pad, always some project that needs finishing. And there’s nothing to stop it, no reason for her to take time off. Pidge has her parents looking out for her, Shiro and Hunk have their respective partners, and Lance and Keith have Justin and Delilah. Allura, as far as Justin can tell, has no one. 

 

Justin sees how Coran watches her sadly. He doesn’t want this for the little princess he helped to raise, even if this is and always has been her lot in life. 

 

~*~

 

Justin dreams about his parents for the first time in years. Everytime, he wakes up in a cold sweat, unable to go back to sleep. He starts wandering the palace halls at night, looking for...something. 

 

“Justin?” 

 

Justin nearly jumped out of his skin. Uncle Coran was sitting at a small table in the vast sitting room, looking over a chess board. The pieces were arranged mid-game, but the Altean wasn’t playing. He was reading something on a data pad. 

 

“Why are you awake, my boy?” he asked kindly. 

 

“Can’t sleep.” Justin mumbled. 

 

“Would you like to join me?” 

 

Justin shrugged, but found his feet shuffling towards the vacant chair on the other side of the table. Once he sat, Uncle Coran was fussing over him, pulling a blanket out of nowhere to wrap around his shoulders and sending a message on his data pad for someone to bring hot chocolate. 

 

“Why are you awake?” Justin asked, fingering the edge of the soft blanket. 

 

“Most likely the same reasons as you.” Uncle Coran smiled sadly. “Too much to think about, I suppose. It was always your father’s problem, too. We shared a lot of late night hot chocolate, you know.” 

 

Justin frowned. “Keith?” 

 

Uncle Coran let out a short laugh. “No, my boy. Keith prefered to work himself to the point of exhaustion so he couldn’t think. Lance was the wanderer, and as the war trudged on, he found he had more and more to think about. I found him wandering the halls late at night, more often than not.” 

 

“What did you do?” 

 

“Mostly we talked. In later years, even when he was dating Keith, he’d seek me out if he couldn’t sleep. He taught me how to play your human game chess. Something to occupy us late at night.” 

 

A silver-haired attendant silently entered the room and put two mugs on the table, smiling when Uncle Coran thanked him and bowing slightly on his way out. The door closed gently behind him, giving them privacy in the night. 

 

Justin sipped the hot chocolate, smiling slightly at the small marshmallows and slight sprinkling of cinnamon. Just the way Lance made it. 

 

“Would you like to talk about it?” Uncle Coran asked. 

 

Justin shook his head. 

 

“Shall we play, then?” 

 

“Okay.” 

 

Justin sat up straighter as Uncle Coran reset the board. He spun the board around so Justin could play white. He gave Justin a kind smile, one he has seen directed at Lance more often than not, and gestured for him to begin the game. 

 

Justin starts to seek Uncle Coran out every night, and the heavy reminder of his real parents death seems to lessen just a bit. 

 

~*~

 

Keith and Lance call every day, and reassure them that they’re dealing with the problem. A terrorist cell that believes Galran Prince Lotor is still alive in the quintessence field and waiting to be released. The attack on their home happened at the same time as Pidge’s lab was broken into. Luckily, Pidge was having dinner with her parents at the time, so no one was hurt. But things were stolen, and Pidge is even more pissed off than Keith, if that’s possible. Lance says she’ll probably take down the whole cell by herself. 

 

Justin notices the way Aunt Allura’s face gets tight when Lotor’s name is mentioned. He notices everything. 

 

~*~

 

Delilah seems okay, until she’s not. 

 

For the most part, Coran takes care of her. He’s thrilled to have a young charge again, especially one that belongs to his favorite paladin. He puts her in a dance class with other young Altean children, and she’s giddy and laughing as she learns traditional dances. 

 

But about two weeks in, she breaks. And she’s absolutely wailing with tears and snot pouring down her face, and Aunt Allura desperately tries to calm her. 

 

“What’s wrong?” Aunt Allura cooes, trying to quiet her. 

 

“I miss Daddy.” she howls. 

 

“Oh, you poor, sweet thing.” Aunt Allura sighs. 

 

Delilah doesn’t have another meltdown after that night, but it’s only another week until Keith and Lance decide things are safe again. 

 

~*~

 

“I’m happy for you.” 

 

Lance looks up at Allura, frowning slightly. The kids had been sent to bed, excited to finally be going back home in the morning. Keith had fallen asleep in Lance’s lap, exhaustion finally getting the best of him. Lance had been finger-combing his hair and wondering if he could get away with sneaking some facial treatment on his husbands face without waking him up. 

 

“About what?” Lance asked. 

 

“Keith. Well, and now your kids. Your family. I’m not sure if I ever told you that.”

 

“I’m sure you did.” Lance says easily, honestly not remembering. “At the wedding, probably.”

 

“Still. You make each other so happy.” 

 

Lance smiled and combed through Keith’s soft locks. After a moment, he looked up and realized Allura was frowning at her hands. “Everything alright, Lura?” 

 

Allura hesitated. “There’s been talk lately...that I should marry. Continue the line.”

 

“Was there someone particular in mind?” 

 

“I don’t know. Probably.” Allura looked exhausted at the thought. “They’re not wrong. I just...my father always reassured me that I’d be able to marry whoever I wanted. And now that just isn’t an option.” 

 

“I mean, with Olkari medicine you could live forever. ‘Our Immortal Queen’ is a great title.” 

 

Allura smiled. “It would be exhausting, I think.” 

 

Lance hummed in agreement. Then after a moment said, “A long time ago, way before I was born, there were several queens on Earth who never married and did very well for themselves. Elizabeth. Katherine. I think there was a really old one from Egypt, too. When they died, the crown would go to the closest cousin.” 

 

“That’s not really an option either.” Allura said, sounding pained. “I don’t know, Lance. I...sometimes, I’m just so lonely, sometimes. It’s not that I don’t want it, I just…”

 

“You want to be able to have control over it.” 

 

“Yes.” 

 

They sat in silence for a moment, Lance curling Keith’s silky hair around his fingers. 

 

“Lura, if you want it to happen for you, it will.” Lance said. “But, because you’re in a position of power, you need to find someone who can share the burden. Someone who will meet your needs. Not just the needs of the state.” 

 

“I know.” 

 

Lance gave her a mischievous look. “Would you like help selecting your suitor? I have fantastic taste.” 

 

“I’ll think about it.” she smiled. 

 

Silence fell again. Keith sighed in his sleep and rolled over, pressing his face into Lance’s stomach. Lance realizes it might be time to secretly pluck Keith’s eyebrows again too. Though one time, Lance went way too far and decided to wax him. Keith woke up screaming. 

 

“How were the kids?” Lance asked. 

 

“I told you, they were fine. Perfect angels.” 

 

Lance shot her an impatient look. “They’re in bed. You can be honest.” 

 

Allura sighed. “They were upset, Lance. What do you expect? Someone broke into your home and you sent them away. Delilah...didn’t really understand what was going on, but she missed her parents. She was very brave about the whole thing, but she was sad and confused.” 

 

“And Justin?” 

 

“He...well, he didn’t leave the palace much. I think it was easier for him to pretend he was on Earth if he stayed inside. I know he couldn’t sleep, and Coran was talking to him.” 

 

Lance miserably studied his husband’s thick eyelashes. “You think he’ll be okay?”

 

“I think he’s a very intelligent boy who knows you did what you had to do to keep him safe. And I think he’s going to surprise us all with how quickly he’ll heal from this, just like his dads.” 

 

Lance smiled sadly at his friend. “Thanks, Lura.” 

 

“Of course, Lance.” 

 

~*~

 

Justin gets back to school, and finds that he’s missed a lot. 

 

He’s missed a lot of baseball practice, and if he misses any more practices or games he’ll be asked to leave the team. So he can’t skip out on Saturday morning practice anymore, even when it’s cold out and he’s exhausted. 

 

A few weeks before he left, he and Darren had saved up their money to go see Caged Animal in concert, and when it became clear that Justin wouldn’t be able to go, he had a fit of bravery and asked Karu Tasuki instead. They were dating now, and spend most of lunch period making out. It’s annoying. Karu is really nice, and can draw anime characters really well and is also a big fan of Caged Animal. But all the kissing is annoying. 

 

Equally annoying is the fact that Katie Truman is now dating Teddy Matthews. Justin doesn’t want to talk about it. 

 

He also doesn’t want to talk about New Altea, or why he had to go there. Everyone knew anyway. The Paladins of Voltron taking action against a terrorist cell was all over the news feeds. People asked the strangest questions, like what color the sky was there. How big was his aunt’s palace. Was he treated like a prince. Justin retreats into his wallflower mode, and tries to blend into the background. 

 

Luckily, he has things to distract him. Like Delilah’s dance recital. Which, okay, he knows having a sister ten years younger than himself is supposed to be an annoyance but it’s really hard not to think she’s adorable in her little bumblebee costume. Lance is absolutely beside himself with how cute it is. 

 

He writes a story about a lonely princess who gives everything to her people, and it’s published in the school lit mag. Keith is insanely proud of him, and has the story saved in plastic sheets, and shows it to all of their family and friends. “Our published author”, Lance keeps saying, swollen with pride. 

 

His nightmares start to fade again, even if the singe marks from laser blasts in the kitchen do not, but when he’s up late he finds himself reaching for a data pad to see if Uncle Coran is awake too. They play chess online. 

 

“What’s up, kiddo?” Lance asks one night, sitting heavily on the couch next to him. 

 

Justin makes a noncommittal grunt at him, not looking away from the show he’s watching. Delilah is having special girls night with Tia Rachel, and Justin was supposed to be out with his friends but he had bailed. 

 

“Aren’t you supposed to be out with Darren? Kissing girls? Breaking curfew?” 

 

“Didn’t feel like it.” 

 

“Why not?” 

 

Justin shrugged. 

 

“...Is this about last month?” 

 

“No, Lance.” 

 

“Cause we can talk about it, if you want.” 

 

“No, I just…” Justin took a deep breath. “I mean, I didn’t want to go to New Altea, and next time can I just go to Abuela’s? But...I’ll deal with it. I don’t need to see Dr White.” 

 

“You sure? There’s no shame in it if you do.” 

 

Justin shook his head. 

 

“So what’s up?” 

 

Justin frowned. “Did you ever...like, how did you know you and Keith were going to be together?” 

 

Lance let out a short laugh. “Oh, man. Honestly it’s a miracle we ever did get together. There was a lot of pining and self loathing. I was a mess back then, and Keith wasn’t much better off.”

 

“Seriously?” 

 

“Oh, yeah. If it weren’t for that damn torture chamber it probably never would have happened.” 

 

“Torture chamber?” 

 

“Haggar designed these rooms for us. Keith and I were on a mission and found them on this warship. I went into mine and it activated. Kind of...stripped me bare. Showed him a lot of my insecurities, one of them being him.”

 

“What happened?” 

 

“Well, we were on a mission, so we didn’t talk about it until after I lost my leg.” 

 

Justin stared at his role model. 

 

“Yeah.” Lance sighed. “We’re not the best example. Maybe you should talk to your Uncle Shiro. What’s this about, anyway?” 

 

Justin shook his head. “Just...ugh.” 

 

“Come on, I just told you how screwed up me and Keith were. Can’t be as bad as that.” 

 

Justin looked at his reassuring smile, and gave in. “Katie got a boyfriend while I was away.” 

 

“Ah.” Lance nodded. “Yeah. That might make getting together with her difficult.” 

 

Justin scrunched up his nose. “Well, I kind of...I mean, at first I was kinda mad but...now I don’t care? I just...I thought I liked her. And then I didn’t. Or something. I don’t…” 

 

“Hey, kiddo, it’s alright. Just means you didn’t like her as much as you thought you did.” Lance shrugged. “Not the end of the world. Same thing happened to me with your Aunt Allura. We ended up being best friends.” 

 

Justin’s head spun a little. 

 

“Justin, look, you’re in high school. So there’s a lot of pressure to be like everyone else and date and have sex and do drugs and whatever else it is kids these days do. I wouldn’t know, I was in outer space. And...I got really lucky. I met this sullen punk who had no sense of style when I was seventeen and he turned out to be the love of my life. I followed him across the universe and back, and I’d do it all over again in a heartbeat. I remind him every day.

 

“But...we don’t want it to be like that for you, okay? Keith and I got together when we did because we...well, we said we’d survive but there was no way to be sure. If I had the choice, I’d wait until things had calmed down and...you know, go on normal dates and stuff. Awkwardly hold hands under the table at family dinner. Whatever. 

 

“You can take as much time as you need to find someone who you want to be with. Even if it’s just for a little bit. Not because everyone else has someone or because you’re afraid you’ll miss your chance.”

 

Justin stared at his hands. This was...honestly a little heavier than he was expecting. But, it made sense. He has time to screw up, and chase the wrong people. 

 

“Does that help?”

 

“Yeah, I think it does.” Justin thought about it for a minute. “Yeah. Thanks, Lance.” 

 

Lance watched him stand up. “Hey, where are you going?” 

 

“There’s a party that Darren got invited to. I’m gonna go do drugs or something.” 

 

“Be home by curfew.” Lance reminded. “And call us if you need anything!” 

 

Justin gave him a backwards wave and left. Lance heard the front door open and close. 

 

“Everything alright?” 

 

Lance looked up to see Keith standing in the doorway, his expression a little guarded. 

 

“Yeah.” Lance smiled, holding out his arms and making a grabby motion. “Everything’s great. Hey, how did we get so lucky with Justin? He could have turned out to be such as asshole.”

 

Keith snorted and crossed the room, sitting next to Lance and allowing his body to relax against him. “He could have been like me, you mean.” 

 

“Or me.” Lance shrugged. “How much of that did you hear?” 

 

“Most of it.” Keith considered. “I’ll awkwardly hold hands with you under the dinner table anytime you want.” 

 

Lance smiled and rested his head on Keith’s shoulder. “Thanks, babe.” 

 

“Do you really think we rushed things?” 

 

“I think we have the best love story of all time. Romance, action, adventure, friendship, the whole nine yards. But Justin didn’t need to hear that.” 

 

Keith pressed a soft kiss into his temple, and then onto his brow, then his cheekbone. Lance smiled, warm with love. 

 

~*~

 

Justin arrived at the party, late enough that he could slip in unnoticed. There’s a lot of people here, people from other schools. He found Darren and Karu wrapped around each other in a corner, but as soon as he approached they separated. Darren greeted him with their handshake. 

 

“Glad you could make it.” Darren grinned, and it was genuine. Justin was really happy he was his best friend. 

 

“Yeah.” Justin smiled, letting Karu give him a loose hug. “Me too.” 

 

“Justin!” Karu smiled. “This is my friend Jenny. She goes to the Garrison, but we grew up together.” 

 

Jenny is petite and has long wavy blonde hair and big brown eyes. She doesn’t really remind Justin of any of the Garrison graduates he knows. But she smiles at him, and Justin decides she’s probably nice. Karu wouldn’t be friends with her if she wasn’t. 

 

And he has all the time in the world to see if that instinct is right or wrong.

 

~*~

 

**Remember what they say**   
**There's no shortcut to a dream**   
**It's all blood and sweat**   
**And life is what you manage in between**

**But what you don't know**   
**Is you're too young and eager to love**   
**Seething eyes**   
**So you're about to get into**   
**The ditch that you opened up**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will write all the fluff.


	3. The Wedding

Delilah doesn’t know many things for sure, but there are three things that she’s absolutely certain about. 

 

First, she does not look like her family. This is because she is not human. She has long skinny legs - string bean legs, her papi calls them - and yellow eyes. She has short purple fur that needs special towels to make sure it gets super dry after the shower. She has hair that she keeps cut short, and usually wears a headband. Oh, and the tail. It’s long and skinny and has a tuft of fur on the end like a lion. She is told she looks a bit like Nana Krolia, but she doesn’t really. She’s adopted, after all. 

 

Second, her brother Justin misses his parents. His real parents. He’s adopted too. He doesn’t talk about them, but Delilah found the picture of them that he keeps buried in the bottom of his t-shirt drawer. He calls Daddy and Papi by their real names, too. She asked Daddy why once, and he told her she’d understand when she grew up and not to ask Justin. Justin likes living with them, and he likes baseball, and he listens to music too loud with his best friend Darren. But he misses his real parents. 

 

Third, her parents love each other. If they didn’t, they wouldn’t be married, right? But they don’t act like her friend’s parents. They don’t have wedding photos anywhere in the house. They share the chores. Sometimes they fight, but not really. Papi can make Daddy laugh harder than anyone in the world. Daddy is so strong that when Papi falls asleep on the couch he just picks him up and moves him to their bed. 

 

One night the four of them sit at the kitchen table for dinner, just like any other night. Delilah was trying really hard to eat her lima beans but they just didn’t taste good. Even Justin was struggling, and he would eat anything. Delilah wished Papi would make fried plantains again. His are better than Abuela’s, but she wasn’t allowed to tell anyone that. 

 

Papi is in the middle of asking everyone about their day when the three data pads on the counter chimed. Daddy sighed and reached over to grab one, frowning as he unlocked the screen. 

 

“Oh, your sister picked a date.” Dad said, scanning the message. 

 

“Oh, thank God.” Papi groaned, raising his eyes and palms to the ceiling. “Hallelujah, we have been saved.” 

 

“Aunt Rachel’s getting married?” Justin asked. “When?” 

 

“October 4th.” 

 

“Why are we saved, Papi?” Delilah asked. 

 

Papi grinned across the table at her. “Because now Abuela is going to leave me alone for six months!” 

 

“Lance.” Daddy sighed, shaking his head. 

 

“This calls for a celebration. Dessert!” 

 

“Lance!”

 

“No more lima beans!” Papi cheered. 

 

“Yay!” Delilah yelled. 

 

Daddy just looked so sad as Papi whisked the dinner plates away and pulled a tub of ice cream out of the fridge. Justin was quietly laughing as he got up to help Papi get bowls. Daddy looked back at his data pad. 

 

“She wants Lilah to be flower girl.” Daddy said. 

 

“What does that mean?” Delilah asked. 

 

“It means you’re going to wear a pretty dress and have lots of pictures taken of you.” 

 

Delilah thought about it. It didn’t sound so bad. She put on her best serious face and nodded. “Okay. I’ll do it.” 

 

Daddy laughed quietly and reached over to muss her hair. “Alright, munchkin.” 

 

“Am I in the wedding party?” Papi asked. 

 

“I don’t know. Check your messages.” 

 

Papi finished serving ice cream before grabbing his own data pad. He let out a whoop of delight. “Oh yeah, groomsman.” 

 

Daddy was still reading his message. “Justin, you have a plus one.” 

 

“Really?” Justin asked blankly. 

 

“Yeah. Anyone you’d like to bring? Rachel will expect you to have a date.” 

 

Justin shrugged. “I guess I could bring Jenny.” 

 

Delilah liked Jenny. Jenny went to Daddy and Papi’s old school, but when she was in town she came over almost every day. She would watch movies with Delilah while Justin did homework, and come to any baseball games Justin was playing, and eat dinner with them and laugh at Papi’s stories. When she was at school, she and Justin sat with their vidscreens open and did homework in near silence. 

 

Daddy and Papi never said anything, but they all wondered if Jenny was actually Justin’s girlfriend. Once in a while they asked Delilah if she’d ever seen them doing anything like kissing or wrestling, but she hadn’t. They just did homework. Sometimes they played catch outside, because Jenny played third baseman for her school’s team. 

 

Daddy’s eyebrows went up. “I didn’t realize you two were...serious.” 

 

Justin made a face. “Of course we’re serious.” 

 

Papi dropped his spoon with a clang. 

 

“I mean, Lance’s family can be...intimidating the first time you meet them. You know, just, I hope you know what you’re asking her.” 

 

“She’s met Lita before.” 

 

“Lita is just one monster of many. Tia Veronica will be there too.” 

 

Justin shrugged. “Jenny’s my best friend. She’s a part of my life.” 

 

Papi started to laugh quietly. 

 

Daddy looked confused. “So...Jenny isn’t your wedding date?” 

 

“I mean, I have to ask her…”

 

Papi shoved a hand over his mouth to keep his laugh quiet. Delilah started to giggle too, just because Papi was laughing. Something was probably funny. 

 

“And then...you’re introducing her at the wedding as…?” 

 

“Uhm, as Jenny?” 

 

“But...Lance, damn it, what is so funny?” 

 

“Swear jar!” Justin said instantly. 

 

Daddy grumbled and felt his pockets for change. Papi just smiled and pointed his spoon at Justin. “You are just as clueless as Keith.” 

 

“Hey!” 

 

“I honestly didn’t think it was possible, but here we are.” 

 

“Clueless about what?” Justin asked. 

 

Papi smiled and dug his spoon back into his ice cream. 

 

“About what?” Justin asked again. 

 

“Don’t worry about it, kiddo.” 

 

Daddy stood to start doing the dishes, and Papi took over reading the message on the data pad. 

 

“I’ll bet anything it’s gonna be a big party.” Papi said. “My mom is probably giving her the wedding we didn’t have.” 

 

“Your family doesn’t need an excuse to throw a party.” 

 

“Hey, Justin’s quinceanera was a perfectly reasonable expense, I don’t know why you vetoed it - “ 

 

“Justin is a boy.” 

 

“We live in modern times, Keith!” 

 

“Do Cubans even celebrate quinceaneras?” 

 

Papi squawked. “Of course we do! We have choreographed dances and everything! Don’t worry, Delilah will get one instead.” 

 

“Can’t wait.” Daddy said dryly. 

 

~*~

 

Tia Rachel was marrying her second husband, and it was a Big Deal. The wedding would be in Chicago, and one hundred people were invited. There would be dances, and lots of food, and Delilah was going to wear the prettiest dress ever. Well, Tia Rachel’s would be prettier, but Delilah’s would still be pretty. 

 

Delilah finally finished her handwriting homework and was lying on the living room carpet with a photo album. She scowled as she flipped through it. 

 

“What’cha doing, chiquita?” 

 

She looked up at Papi. “Nothing.” 

 

“Huh. Looks like something.” 

 

“Why are there no pictures of you and Daddy’s wedding?” 

 

Papi frowned. “I know we have some somewhere. Let me see.” 

 

Delilah got up off the floor and gave Papi the photo album, and they sat together on the couch. Delilah rested her head on his arm while he flipped through the pages. 

 

“Ah, here we are.” Papi said cheerfully, stopping at a page in the middle of the book. “That’s from the wedding.” 

 

It was not a great photo. Sure, Daddy and Papi were both in suits, but they were soaking wet. Daddy’s hair looked like a wet mop. A crumpled white flower was pinned to Papi’s jacket. It looked like they were standing on a porch, and it was raining behind them. 

 

“There’s nothing else?” Delilah asked. 

 

“No, I think that’s it.” Papi smiled. 

 

Delilah frowned at the picture. 

 

“What’s wrong, Lilah?” 

 

“Papi, what was your wedding like?” 

 

“Well,” Papi closed the book and put it aside, and wrapped an arm around Delilah, “it was...kind of a disaster, really. We were happy, but no one else was.” 

 

“Why not?” 

 

“Well, for starters, it was a really small wedding. I think we only had thirty people, total. Everyone expected us to do something big. My mom really wanted us to do something big. She even had Daddy convinced.” 

 

“Why didn’t you?” 

 

Papi sighed and pulled her legs across her lap, “Because, chiquita, your daddy would have hated it. And...you might not get this now but so much of our lives belongs to everyone else. I don’t need the whole world to know that I love your dad. I just need him to know it.” 

 

Delilah scrunched up her face. “I don’t get it.” 

 

Papi laughed. “It’s okay, one day you will.” 

 

“Why were you all wet?” 

 

“It started raining.” Papi smiled. “A big thunderstorm, out of nowhere. The wedding was supposed to be outside, under a trellis, and it was blown over in about ten seconds. Flowers everywhere, everyone’s make up was ruined. Everyone ran for cover, but we were already wet so we finished the ceremony in the rain. Uncle Shiro stood out there with us as a witness, telling us we were insane every ten seconds. Oh, and Tio Marco dropped the rings in the mud so that was gross.”

 

“What happened next?” 

 

“Well, we were planning on having dinner inside, so that was good, but the restaurant lost power so we had to wait half an hour. Without power, the frosting on the cake Uncle Hunk made melted and turned into this...big, sugary disaster. It tasted good, but looked awful. And then, when that was all finally over, Aunt Pidge lost our song.” 

 

“Your song?” 

 

“The song for our first dance.” Papi gently brushed hair out of her eyes. “It took us forever to pick it out. Only one song felt right, a really old one called First Day of My Life. And Your Aunt Pidge lost it.” 

 

“What did you do?”

 

“We danced to a different one. Dorval, by Julia Kent. It’s classical music, and it always made us feel something. So we danced to it instead. It was perfect.” 

 

“But everyone was unhappy?” 

 

“Chiquita, listen to me, in this life, you can’t make everyone happy. So, sometimes, you have to do what’s best for you, or for one person. Even if our whole wedding went perfectly, someone would have been unhappy. But me and Daddy just made the best of a bad situation, like we always do, and decided that our happiness was the most important part of the day. I love your dad, Lilah, but we never needed a big wedding and a pretty cake and the right song to be happy.”

 

Delilah looked at Papi’s hands on her knees. His wedding band shined. There was no mud on it anymore. 

 

“Can I hear the song?” she asked. 

 

Papi smiled. “Of course you can! Hold on, I have it somewhere.” 

 

He got up and went to find his data pad, and Delilah reopened the photobook. Now that she knew what she was looking for, she found the wedding photo fairly easily. She looked at it again, letting her nails trace the edge of the photos. 

 

They looked happy, if nothing else. Papi’s smile made his eyes crinkle up, and Daddy had an arm around his waist. They both wore huge smiles, in spite of the rain and mud. It made sense why this wasn’t on the mantle with the other important pictures, but it was a good photo anyway. 

 

The music started, and when Delilah looked up, Papi grabbed her hands and pulled her into a dance around the room. She laughed and spun until she was dizzy and out of breath. 

 

~*~

 

Delilah doesn’t think about her real parents often. She doesn’t remember them. At all. She doesn’t have any pictures. She doesn’t know their names. Daddy told her that he found her in a safe place on a planet destroyed by war. That someone put her somewhere that she wouldn’t be hurt, and she would be found. But she doesn’t know who they were, or what they did. 

 

She wonders if she should be sad. 

 

Sometimes, she can smell things that make her feel...she doesn’t know. One day she walked down the street and smelled rain and cigarettes and...something strongly floral. Something like the jasmine flowers outside of Uncle Shiro’s house. And it made her throat close up like she was going to cry. 

 

Nana Krolia says that Galra have a stronger sense of smell, and some smells they remember forever. Like how when she smells firewood it reminds her of big family dinners at Lita’s house, when they cook a pig over a big open fire, and marshmallows for dessert. And her hoodie makes her whole room smell like smoke, and she won’t let papi wash it for a month. 

 

But that one smell. Rain, and cigarettes, and flowers. She can’t shake it. She wonders what it’s from. 

 

~*~

 

Tia Rachel always came over for lunch on Sundays. Daddy and Justin had gone on a hike, but Delilah wanted to stay home and practice dancing. Her ballet teacher said she was on track to start doing pointe in a few years, and her jazz teacher told her she could probably pick up any type of dance she put her mind to. 

 

Delilah took a break and found Papi and Tia Rachel sitting at the table drinking pink wine. Papi smiled at her and slid a peanut butter and jelly in front of her place at the table. 

 

“Can I have some banana bread?” Delilah asked. 

 

“If you eat your sandwich.” 

 

Delilah took a bite of her sandwich. It had been made with the rhubarb jam Daddy made last weekend. The rhubarb grew at the edge of their yard. One of the first things Delilah learned was not to eat the leaves. 

 

“Have you started planning the wedding yet?” Papi asked. 

 

“We’re trying.” Tia sighed. “I should just let Mama do everything for me.” 

 

Papi snorted. “Have fun with that. I see a ridiculous ruffled taffeta catastrophe in your future.” 

 

“I never understood how you got her off your back.” 

 

“I didn’t. I’m still paying for it.” Papi took a long sip of his wine. “Once a month she says to me, ‘The bigger the wedding the longer the marriage’, like she expects Keith to turn around with divorce papers.” 

 

Tia laughed. “Yeah, right.” 

 

“Seriously. Sometimes I wonder...well, never mind. Chiquita, do you want some milk?” 

 

“Can I have juice?”

 

“Sure.” 

 

Papi got up and went into the fridge, and came back with a white grape juice box. After he gave it to Delilah, his sister grabbed his hand. 

 

“Lance, do you know what Mami has been saying to me for the past six years? Since I divorced Ricardo? It’s been, ‘Why can’t you find a guy like Keith? Your brother has the most beautiful house and lovely kids and a perfect marriage, what happened to you?” 

 

“We are not perfect.” 

 

“No one is, but that’s not the point. Mami has always been harsh on us. She wants the best for us. But it translates as...earmuffs, Lilah, bitchyness.” 

 

Papi frowned and looked down at his robot leg. 

 

“If we’re being honest, I think you handle her pretty well. Except for that Christmas thing. That drives her crazy.” 

 

“That’s all Keith.” Papi mumbled. “He got sick of her monopolizing all our time on the holidays.” 

 

“We both know that if you put your foot down Keith would put up with her.” 

 

Papi shook his head. “Marriage is all about compromise, Rachel.” 

 

“So I’m told.” 

 

They clinked their glasses together and sipped. Delilah finished her sandwich and smiled when Papi got up and cut her a slice of banana bread. Tia Rachel showed Delilah a picture of the flower girl dress. It was pale gold, champagne Tia said, and she’d have a pink flower crown and pink shoes. Papi toasted the bread and spread it with lots of butter, just how Delilah liked it. 

 

“Lilah, honey, you wanna help us pick napkins?” 

 

Delilah scrunched up her nose. “Sounds boring.” 

 

Papi laughed. “Yeah, it really is.” 

 

~*~

 

Delilah sometimes wonders...what is a family anyway? Her best friend, Brittany, says a family is a mommy and a daddy and a dog. Her second best friend says a family is all related to each other. 

 

Delilah’s family doesn’t look like that. She has two dads, for starters. And as far as being related, well, Papi’s family is related. And Nana Krolia is Daddy’s mom. And they have a wolf, which is kind of like a dog. But everyone else doesn’t match. Like a big patchwork quilt. Scraps of fabric that each mean something, and shouldn’t fit together but you cut them and sew them together to make one whole thing. 

 

Sometimes, she wonders what color she would be. Justin would be deep green with gold stars. Papi would be blue, and Daddy would be red, and Uncle Shiro would be black and purple. 

 

~*~

 

“Alright, here we are.” Daddy said as the hover car slowed to a stop outside of Jenny’s house. “Justin, you want to go ring the bell?” 

 

“I wanna ring it!” Delilah volunteered, pressing her seat belt release button. 

 

Justin rolled his eyes. “Delilah, no, stay here.” 

 

“Take your sister.” 

 

“Why?” 

 

“Because she’s at the precious age where she wants to push all the buttons, and if you don’t let her we won’t have a moment’s peace all weekend. Lance’s button phase lasted until he was twenty.” 

 

“Hey! It ended when I was nineteen, thank you very much.” 

 

Delilah pushed open the car door and ran up the walk to the white door. She bounced in place while Justin slowly walked towards her. When he was about half way, she lost patience and rang the bell. 

 

When the door opened, there was a boy a little older than her. He stared at her with wide eyes. “Mom! There’s a Galra at the door!” 

 

“Jesus, Gary.” Jenny hissed, pushing the boy out of the door. “Hi, Lilah, ignore the booger. Hey, Justin!”

 

Justin walked up behind Delilah and wordlessly took the grass stained sports bag from Jenny. Jenny picked up a white leather purse from a table by the door and shouted goodbye to her parents. Gary followed them back to the car. 

 

“Is that your boyfriend?” 

 

“No. Shut up.”

 

“Who is the Galra?” 

 

“I’m Delilah.” Delilah said. 

 

“Oh, my God.” Gary stopped in his tracks. “Is that...Paladin McClain?” 

 

Delilah looked back at the car where her papi was dancing in his seat. “You mean Papi?” 

 

Gary turned to his sister. “You know Paladin McClain?” 

 

Jenny rolled her eyes. “Yes.”

 

“How?” 

 

“He’s Justin’s dad.” 

 

“But...but that’s not fair!” 

 

“So, you’d rather be an orphan? Sorry, Justin.” 

 

“S’okay.” Justin opened the trunk and pushed aside Delilah’s bag to make room for Jenny’s. He was careful not to disturb the garment bags with Delilah’s dress and the men’s suits. 

 

“Introduce me!” Gary was begging. “I won’t speak for a whole month!” 

 

“Oh, my God.” Jenny mumbled. “You’re such a loser.” 

 

“Hey!” Daddy was sticking his head out the window. “Everything alright? Stop - Lance! Stop turning the music up!” 

 

“Oh, my God, it’s Paladin Kogane.” Gary whispered. 

 

“Hi Jenny! Ready to go?” Papi called. 

 

“Hi, Mr McClain!” She gave her brother a slight push. “Go inside, booger.” 

 

Delilah sat in the backseat between Justin and Jenny. Papi waved at Gary as they pulled away from the house, then twisted in his seat to look back at the kids. 

 

“Excited?” 

 

“To get away from my brother and sister for the weekend? Definitely.” 

 

“They can’t be that bad.” 

 

“Did you see my brother? He was the one acting like you and Mr Kogane are rockstars.” 

 

“Well, thanks for coming with us. I hope you understand that my family will be prodding you all weekend.” 

 

“I doubt anyone is as bad as my Aunt Olga.” 

 

~*~

 

Tia Rachel’s wedding was going to be in Chicago, where she lived. It would be inside, so if it rained it wouldn’t be a problem. There was a limo that would take them from the church to the restaurant where they were having the reception. And they had rented a whole bunch of hotel rooms all next to each other. Daddy and Papi had their own room, and Delilah and Jenny were sharing with Cousin Nadia and Cousin Rosa, and Justin was sharing a room with Cousin Sylvio, Cousin Rubin and Cousin Ronaldo, and Cousin Nadia’s boyfriend Mark. 

 

This was the first time that Delilah was allowed to sleep in the big girl’s room, and not with Daddy and Papi. She was so excited, she didn’t even care that she had to share a bed with Jenny.

 

“Lilah, you need help getting dressed?” Daddy asked, putting her small bag on the dresser in the room. 

 

Delilah felt her face heat up. “No! I can do it myself!” 

 

“Well, you have to be ready for the rehearsal in an hour…”

 

“I’m fine!” 

 

“It’s okay, Tio Keith.” Cousin Nadia smiled. “We’re all going to help each other get ready.” 

 

“Yeah, we’ve got her.” Jenny reassured. “Her dress for tonight is in the suitcase, right?” 

 

“Yeah. If you need anything, we’re across the hall.” 

 

He left and Cousin Rose gave Delilah a reassuring smile. “Us girls are going to stick together all weekend.” 

 

“That’s right!” Cousin Nadia fell back on one of the beds and bounced a little. “Tonight we’re gonna do our nails, and spa treatments, and look super beautiful tomorrow morning.”

 

Cousin Rose looked over at Jenny. “So, you’re Justin’s girlfriend, right?” 

 

Jenny laughed. “Oh, no. We’re just friends.” 

 

Cousin Rose frowned. “But...Abuela said - “

 

“How’d you guys meet?” Cousin Nadia asked quickly. “You go to the Garrison, right?”

 

“Yeah, our friends started dating freshman year. They introduced us at a party.” 

 

Jenny had opened her sports bag and started unpacking. She hung a shiny blue dress up in the closet, next to Cousin Rose’s red and Cousin Nadia’s pink bridesmaid dress and Delilah’s flower girl dress. Then she carried a makeup bag into the bathroom. 

 

“What are you studying?” 

 

“Oh, I’m engineering core. Chemical engineering.” 

 

“Yeah, girl, you’re way too smart for Justin.” 

 

Jenny laughed. 

 

“Lilah, you want me to do your nails?” Cousin Rose offered. “We have plenty of time before the rehearsal.” 

 

Delilah nodded eagerly. 

 

Cousin Rose smiled. “Great. I have a really pretty color that will match your dress for tomorrow.” 

 

~*~

 

The rehearsal was pretty boring. A woman with a clip board showed Delilah where she would line up, and how to know when to walk down the aisle. They all would have to line up at the front of the church and stand for the entire mass and ceremony. The priest told Delilah that she was allowed to go and sit with Daddy if she wanted, but Delilah thought she might want to stay up front. 

 

Either way, she was pretty bored. 

 

Papi took her hand to cross the street, and they got in a car with Cousin Rose and Tio Marco. They had to go to dinner, and their whole family would be there. And they’d meet Tia Rachel’s husband’s family. But Delilah was so tired, she fell asleep at the table. 

 

Her dads pushed all the nearby wine glasses in front of her and took a photo. It became one of their favorites. 

 

~*~

 

In the morning, the girls all woke up early and helped each other get ready. 

 

Everything in the room was a huge mess. Cousin Nadia and Cousin Rose spent two whole hours in the bathroom in their underwear, with the blow dryer screaming, straightening their hair. Tubes and packets of make up sprawled across every surface. Jenny had gone up the street and brought back bagels and coffee and juice for Delilah, but most of it sat on the nightstand forgotten. 

 

Jenny helped Delilah braid her hair and clip it with her special sparkling flower barrett. And her helped her with her stockings and to put on her dress. She even helped her put on a tiny bit of makeup, less than what she wore for dance recitals, and gave her a small pink bag she could use as a purse to keep her lip gloss in. 

 

“Your dads probably didn’t even think of that, huh?” Jenny smiled. 

 

Then Jenny transformed herself. 

 

The Jenny that Delilah was used to had long yellow hair that was always up in a ponytail, so that she could pull it through the back of her baseball cap. She usually wore shorts, and a t-shirt, and flat grey sneakers with white laces that always came untied. In the winter, she wore jeans and a hoodie and the same sneakers. She didn’t wear makeup, or perfume. 

 

But now Jenny put on makeup to smooth out her skin and soften the freckles across her nose and cheeks. She did something to make her hair look shiny and smooth and tied it up in a pretty bun, letting some strands hang down and frame her face. She put on her pretty blue dress and silver strappy heels, and simple dangling chain earrings that ended in a silver bead. She sprayed herself with the tiniest bit of perfume. It smelled like a green spring day. And she rolled up a pair of soft fabric shoes and shoved them in her purse.

 

When Jenny noticed Delilah’s awed look, she smiled. 

 

“There is nothing wrong with knowing how to look pretty when you want to.” she told her. “But always bring a spare pair of shoes so that you’re comfortable.”

 

Cousin Rose and Cousin Nadia finally finished getting dressed and the girls headed out into the hallway together, talking loudly about the wedding and laughing. Downstairs in the lobby, the wedding guests drank coffee and waited in loose groups for the shuttles to take them to the church. Papi, Daddy and Justin found Jenny and Delilah pretty quickly. 

 

“There you are!” Pappi beamed. “You look so beautiful, chiquita.” 

 

“Thanks for helping out, Jenny.” Daddy said quietly. 

 

“It’s not a problem at all. We had fun, didn’t we?” Jenny smiled. 

 

Justin was silent, but Justin was always silent. He kept staring at his shoes and sometimes looking up at Jenny. 

 

“We’re gonna wait here and go with the shuttles.” Daddy said. “You’re going to go ahead with Papi to the church, okay? Give me a kiss and we’ll see you later.” 

 

Delilah gave her dad a kiss on the cheek and then took Papi’s hand. Justin silently offered Jenny his arm and Delilah saw her smile when she tucked her hand in his elbow. 

 

Papi rolled his eyes at the ceiling and shook his head. “Exactly like his father.”

 

~*~

 

At the church, Papi dragged Delilah around and said hi to people and took lots of pictures. Lita came over and wrapped Delilah in a big hug, kissing her face and teasing, “Chiquita’s awake, huh? Are you going to make it through dinner tonight?” 

 

“Stop it, Lita!” 

 

“How’s the blushing bride?” Papi asked. 

 

Lita’s mouth went into a straight line, like it did when Delilah wanted to do something she didn’t like. “She’s nervous. Veronica’s with her now.”

 

“I’ll go talk to her.” 

 

“Lance, I don’t think - “

 

“I’m her twin, Mama. I need to see her anyway. Come on, Lilah.” 

 

Papi took Delilah’s hand again and took her to a small room near the entrance, where Tia Rachel was pacing in her long white dress. Tia Veronica sat in the corner of the room, looking bored. 

 

“Hey, Ronnie.” Papi smiled. “Rachel, you look beautiful.” 

 

“Don’t call me that. Hey, Lilah, you look so pretty!” 

 

“Thank you, Tia Ronnie.” 

 

Tia Ronnie gave Papi a nasty look. “Look what you’ve done.” 

 

“Rache, you’re doing that thing.” Papi said, ignoring Tia Veronica. “What’s wrong?” 

 

Tia Rachel looked at Papi, and then burst into tears. 

 

“Oh, my God.” Tia Veronica groaned. 

 

“No!” Papi moaned, running forward and pulling a handkerchief out of his pocket. “Damn it, Rachel, Mama’s gonna kill me, it’s way too early for you to cry! You can’t cry until the vows!” 

 

“Swear jar.” Delilah mumbled, but no one heard her. 

 

Papi used the handkerchief to dab the water off of Tia Rachel’s face, telling her to calm down and relax. Tia Veronica rolled her eyes and poured a glass of champagne and held it out to her sister, who took it and drank half of it in one big sip. 

 

“Oh, nice Veronica. Get her drunk.” Papi hissed. 

 

“Oh, I’m sorry, is what you’re doing productive?” 

 

“Stop it, both of you.” Tia Rachel sniffed. She took a few deep breaths. “Whoo, okay. I’m okay. Done all of this before, and I am a-okay.” Her face crumpled again. “Second time will be easier, right?” 

 

“Oh, Jesus.” Papi mumbled. 

 

Tia Veronica stood up and poured more wine into Tia Rachel’s glass, then poured another glass and took a big sip. 

 

“What if I’m making the same mistake?” Tia Rachel sniffled. “What if I’m just...getting married for all the wrong reasons all over again?” 

 

“Oh, sweetie, you didn’t marry Ricardo for the wrong reasons.” Tia Veronica said. “You married him because you were in love and the war was over.” 

 

Tia Rachel whimpered. 

 

“Veronica, shut up.” Papi groaned. “Rachel, look, maybe your first marriage wasn’t perfect, but that’s why you left him, right? And Steven’s great, and we all like him. And you get to take everything you learned from the first time and do better this time.” 

 

“I’m the first person in our family to get remarried in seven generations.” Tia Rachel reminded them. “Seven. None of you guys got divorced. Veronica and Acxa are always going to new places and Luis and Bea got married right when the war ended and they’re happy and of course Lance and Keith are so fucking perfect - “

 

Delilah gasped. “Tia Rachel! Swear jar!” 

 

“Sorry, Lilah.” 

 

“Rachel.” Papi said sadly. “I don’t know what Mami goes around saying behind my back, but we are not perfect. We got in a fight this morning about his socks. We worked really hard to get where we are now, even after we finally started dating.”

 

“Yeah, and don’t get me started on Acxa.” Tia Veronica said, sipping her wine. “Galra mating instincts are wild, man.”

 

Papi held up a hand. “You, shut up, we don’t want to know. Rachel, today’s about you. Stop comparing yourself to the rest of us. Trust me, it doesn’t get you anywhere.” 

 

Tia Rachel sniffled one last time and nodded. 

 

“Now, finish your wine and we’ll get your make up fixed.” 

 

~*~

 

Tia Rachel didn’t cry anymore. Tia Veronica fixed her make up in all of three seconds, and looked really happy when she walked down the aisle to meet Steven, who Delilah guessed she had to call Tio now. Tia Rachel didn’t even get mad when Delilah got bored and went to sit in the pews with Daddy, Justin and Jenny. 

 

Dinner was something that seemed to only stand in the way of dancing for the McClains. Delilah got to dance with everyone. She giggled when her dads spun around the floor to a super fast song. 

 

Delilah was sitting with her cousins eating cake. It was vanilla with blueberry filling, and it was delicious. Cousin Rubin didn’t want his so Delilah got to eat his too. Everyone was talking about college, which Delilah didn’t have any opinions on. Daddy said she should go to Julliard. 

 

“I think I’m going to declare this year for Psych.” Cousin Ronaldo was saying. “I’m not sure, though.” 

 

“You can always change later.” Jenny pointed out. 

 

“Yeah, I guess. What about you?” 

 

“Oh, well, Garrison...we do an extra year of the program and then we do three years of service.” Jenny smiled. “I’m hoping to get an exploration posting.”

 

Justin looked at his best friend in shock while all the cousins said “cool” or “awesome”. 

 

“Are you a pilot?” Ronaldo asked. 

 

“Engineering core.” 

 

“You’re going to space?” Justin asked. 

 

“Well, I hope to?” Jenny frowned. “Justin, you okay?” 

 

“Yeah.” he said quietly. “I’m fine.” 

 

Everyone’s attention shifted away, and Jenny kept glancing at Justin looking worried. And Delilah went with everyone back to the girls room and promised not to tell anyone that they were sneaking out the fire exit to do something that smelled really bad like skunks. But Delilah sat next to Justin the whole time and eventually fell asleep. 

 

She didn’t know why, but her big brother was sad about something. 

 

~*~

 

Keith woke up because of the press of lips on his shoulder. He was awake because of the pounding in his head and nausea in the pit of his stomach. 

 

“Hey, babe.” Lance sang into his skin. “You awake?” 

 

“Unfortunately.” Keith mumbled. “God, why did you let me drink that much?” 

 

“Because we were having fun, and we don’t have to worry about the kids all morning.” 

 

“Ugh. Delilah will be up soon.” 

 

“Please, her cousins can take care of her. And Jenny. Jenny’s so great with her. It’s a shame Justin can’t figure out if he wants a girlfriend or a best friend.”

 

“Remind you of anyone?" Keith asked dryly.

 

"Hey, not fair." Lance grumbled, starting to massage Keith's scalp with his fingertips. It felt glorious. "You were kind of scary when we were teenagers. And then you came back all big and beefy. Its not my fault I couldn't figure it out."

 

"Yeah, only took a bump on the head and a whole trip to another universe -"

 

“So we have a few options.” Lance cut across. “For this lovely morning. One, we can go for breakfast with my family and see Rachel and Steve off.” 

 

“Your family is very loud, and I don’t know if I can handle that right now.” 

 

“They are.” Lance agreed. “Option two, we can have sex because this is the first time the kids are locked out of our room in I don’t know how many years.” 

 

Keith really considered it. “Option three?” 

 

“Ouch, babe.” 

 

"Lance, I'm very hungover." 

 

"Okay, option three, I run downstairs, get us some breakfast, and we lay here and talk about how great the wedding was and reminisce about our own disaster wedding."

 

"It was the perfect wedding." Keith mumbled.

 

Lance kissed his temple. "I'll ask my mom to keep an eye on Lilah when she gets up." 

 

"Can you bring me coffee?" 

 

"What kind of husband do you think I am?" 

 

Keith lifted his head to glare at him.

 

"Yes, I'll bring coffee."

 

"And pickles." 

 

"To settle your stomach, I know." 

 

"And...waffles."

 

"Christ, are you high?"

 

"Lance. I love you. Even when I'm hungover, and your voice is irritating. Please bring me waffles."

 

Lance kissed the corner of his mouth. "Love you too. I'll be back in a bit."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Veronica would be a vodka aunt and don't you dare tell me otherwise.


	4. The Romance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Justin is unavoidably in love with his best friend, and Delilah's growing pains are only just starting.

Justin got out of the shower one morning and saw something very odd in the backyard. His window overlooked the yard and vegetable patch. But today Lance was out there in his bathrobe clutching a handful of plastic survey flags. It wasn't odd to see Lance puttering around in the vegetable garden first thing in the morning, but not this late and not sticking flags in the ground at even intervals.

 

Tightening the towel around his waist, Justin opened the window and leaned outside. "What's going on?" He called.

 

Keith turned around and looked up at him, clutching a mug of coffee. "Lance has lost his mind." He said calmly.

 

"My big romantic gesture is not insanity, Keith!" Lance snapped, turning around and pointing his flags at his husband. "It's going to be beautiful."

 

"Papi's building a dojo!" Delilah was practicing spinning kicks aimed at the air above the flags. "So he and Daddy can karate-fight! Hi-yah!"

 

"And Delilah needs more room to practice dancing. And I really miss having an outdoor shower. Like, really miss it." Lance stuck another flag in the ground. "Any requests, kiddo?"

 

Justin thought for a moment. "A sauna?" 

 

"You know, that's not a bad idea."

 

"Is this going to be a dojo or a spa?" Keith asked mildly.

 

"It's going to be a traditional dojo with a traditional bath house, and the most romantic anniversary gift ever!"

 

Keith gave a long-suffering sigh. "Just...try to leave enough to send the kids to college."

 

"Babe, that’s what the memoir is for."

 

“I will let us starve before I let you publish that memoir..” 

 

~*~

 

Justin doesn’t really...know what to say when people ask him about Jenny. 

 

They spend a lot of time together. They talk almost every day. When she’s in town, they’ll go see movies together or play catch if it’s nice out. Jenny’s been trying to start pitching, and Justin dutifully helps her practice. Her fastball is nasty, and stings his palm through his glove. 

 

“What is the deal with you two?” Darren asks again and again. 

 

It’s not that Justin doesn’t want to. Jenny’s his best friend, and though he’s really only been on a handful of dates and his only relationship lasted about two months, he knows he wants to be with someone who actually understands him. And well, let’s face it. Jenny’s really pretty. And sometimes he thinks she’d say yes. 

 

“Just ask her out already.” Derren says. 

 

It’s not that he doesn’t want to. But Jenny would say no. And he respects that. 

 

~*~

 

“Papi?”

 

“Yes chiquita?”

 

“When will I get boobies?” 

 

Lance choked and put down his cup of coffee. 

 

“Oh, Lilah, sweetie.” Uncle Hunk said kindly, looking up from the vegetables he was cutting by the stove. “You’re too young to worry about that.” 

 

“But Bethany already has hers, and her mom bought her a training bra and everything!” 

 

Lance does not think much of Bethany. He and Keith agree that she’s trouble, mainly because it seems like her parents let her do whatever she wants. But there’s really no solid reasoning they can use to forbid Delilah from hanging out with her, so they keep their dislike silent. 

 

“Lilah, you come from a family of late bloomers.” Hunk tries. “Keith wasn’t much taller than you until he was nineteen. And Justin didn’t hit puberty until he was thirteen or fourteen.” 

 

“Uncle Hunk, I’m adopted.” Delilah reminded. 

 

Lance gasped. “Who told you?” 

 

Hunk bit his lip to hold in his laughter as his best friend made a big deal of fussing over his daughter and making sure she wasn’t mentally broken. 

 

~*~

 

Justin loves Lance and Keith’s friends. His aunts and uncles. Uncle Shiro joins him and Keith for long hikes and hoverbike rides. Uncle Hunk comes over at least once a week to cook with Lance and gossip, and feed Justin and Delilah of course. Uncle Coran still played online chess with him, and Aunt Allura took her yearly vacation with them at their house. 

 

But Justin liked hanging out with Aunt Pidge best. Once he got his driver’s license, he’d end up at her personal lab once a week. Usually because he was responsible for picking Delilah up from dance practice and if Darren was busy he would just kind of land there. Aunt Pidge would give him a hug and push aside a pile of wires so that he could do homework. Usually they didn’t talk, but if she thought something was wrong she was relentless. She always had to know the answer. 

 

Today Justin didn’t even bother opening his bag. He sat in his chair and tipped back, testing how far the auto-balance would let him go. 

 

“Justin, try to be quiet.” Aunt Pidge sighed. “I’m in a very delicate stage.” 

 

“I didn’t say anything.” 

 

“I can literally hear you thinking.” 

 

“I’ll try not to think then.” 

 

A few minutes later, Aunt Pidge sighed and pushed up her lab goggles. “Alright, kiddo, what’s up? What’s wrong?” 

 

“Nothing’s wrong.”

 

“Justin, you’re about as good of a liar as Lance. Meaning, you suck at it. What’s wrong?” 

 

Justin sighed. 

 

“Something happen at school?”

 

“No. School’s fine.” 

 

“At the wedding then? Keith said everyone had a good time.” 

 

“Nothing happened at the wedding.”

 

“...Keith said you danced all night with your friend Jenny. He said she looked really pretty.” 

 

Justin didn’t respond to that.

 

“Something happen with Jenny?” 

 

Justin scowled at his shoes. “Jenny goes to the Garrison.” 

 

“I know. Shiro told your dads she’s in the top percentile of the class. She’s going to be able to do literally anything she wants when she graduates. After her service years, of course.” 

 

“She wants to go to space.” 

 

Aunt Pidge paused. “Ah.” 

 

Justin tipped back a little further. 

 

“Justin, what happened to your parents was a horrible, awful accident.” Aunt Pidge said in a low voice. “But, you know, some good came out of it. Because of what happened to them, all exploratory ships are equipped with blowers and vents, in addition to standard microbe decontamination. What happened to them will never happen to another person again.”

 

“I know.” he said quietly. 

 

“Space is dangerous, and it’s okay to be worried about her, but from what you’ve told me about Jenny she seems very smart and very capable. I think she’ll be fine.” Aunt Pidge offered him a smile. “She’ll probably do a lot better knowing she has her best friend’s support.” 

 

Justin’s face twisted, just a little bit. Aunt Pidge caught it, because she caught everything. 

 

“I know that look.” She said quietly, then repeated it louder as a grin spread across her face. “I know that look. Lance used to get that look. You like her, don’t you! Hah! No wonder you’re so upset she’s leaving.” 

 

“I don’t like Jenny.” Justin scowled. 

 

“Yeah, you do.” 

 

“I can’t.” 

 

“Why? Because she’s your best friend?” 

 

“Because she’s asexual.” 

 

Pidge rolled her eyes. “Justin, I taught you better than that.” 

 

“What?” 

 

“Kiddo, sexuality is a goddamn jungle. Some orientations, like Kieth’s, fit into this nice box. Mine, well, it has a lot of different meanings. What it means for me and what it means for Jenny might not be the same thing. Yes, for me it means I don’t want more than friendship from other beings, but I have a friend who is perfectly fine with her partner going out and finding sex elsewhere. I have another friend who will occationally have sex with her partner because she wants them to be happy and feel good, even if she doesn’t get anything out of it. Every relationship is different, but all relationships need a foundation of healthy conversation and trust.” 

 

Justin stared at his hands. 

 

“Besides, you’re like, twelve.”

 

“I’m seventeen!” 

 

“Exactly, you have plenty of time to figure all of this out. Honestly, you want my advice? Go to college. Date some nice girls, and some weird ones, maybe a crazy one just to round it out. Few boys too, just to be sure. When Jenny gets back, if you still feel the same way, and it feels right, have a healthy adult conversation with Jenny about what you both want and need.”

 

Justin nodded. 

 

“Now, stop worrying about it. You’re too young to get twisted up in your best friend. Don’t be an idiot like Lance.” 

 

Justin smiled. "Thanks Aunt Pidge."

 

~*~

 

“Delilah...so...the thing is...as you get older...Lance, give me a hand here?” 

 

Lance looked thoroughly amused as he sipped his tea. “I did the last one, babe. This ones your turn. That was the deal.” 

 

Keith looked helplessly back at their daughter. She was sitting at the kitchen table with her head cocked to the side. 

 

“As you get older, you’re going to start to undergo changes.” 

 

“Is it because I’m Galra?” 

 

“No, all your classmates will go through these changes too. Well, yours will be different.” 

 

“How?” 

 

Keith seemed to be trying to find words. Delilah blinked innocently at him. Suddenly he shoved a book into her hands. 

 

“Here’s a book. It will explain everything. Ask Nana Krolia if you have any questions.” 

 

Then he got up and bolted from the room. 

 

Lance checked his watch. “Well, he lasted two minutes longer than I thought he would.” 

 

“Did you win the bet, Papa?” Delilah asked. 

 

“No, Aunt Pidge did. How she always wins is beyond me.” He looked at her. “You understand everything we talked about yesterday?” 

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Read that book, just in case. And Nana Krolia will always answer your questions. And no licking anyone until you’re at least twenty-five, alright?” 

 

“Okay.” 

 

Lance gave his daughter a fist bump. “Okay, go play, I have to go and sooth your traumatized father.” 

 

~*~

 

“So, I guess this is it.” 

 

Jenny stared down at her shoes. It was the big day. Jenny had been assigned to the SS Armistice, and was shipping out. Her graduation ceremony had only been a month ago, and she had split her time as best she could between Justin and her family. She looked very smart in her trim grey uniform. 

 

“Don’t say it like that, you big nerd.” Jenny laughed. “Like you aren’t going to call me every week.” 

 

Justin grinned. “It’s the writer in me.” 

 

Jenny stepped forward and slid her arms under his, wrapping him tightly in a hug. “I’m going to miss you.” she mumbled into his shirt. 

 

“I’m not going anywhere.” Justin promised. “I’ll be right here when you get back.” 

 

She looked up at him. “Sure I can’t convince you to come with?” 

 

“I’m reasonably sure there’s no space for a writer onboard.” 

 

“I mean, I need a stenographer to take lab notes.” 

 

“I’m not very well versed in shorthand.” 

 

“I can smuggle you in my suitcase.” 

 

“Jenny, my aunt designed the biodetectors.” 

 

She huffed. “You are severely lacking in imagination.” 

 

Justin pulled away. “Be safe.” 

 

“Yeah.” Jenny hesitated. “Good luck in college. And Justin?” 

 

“Yeah?” 

 

Jenny seemed to be struggling to say something. 

 

“Tell me when you get back.” Justin suggested. “When you’re home for good.” 

 

Relief washed across Jenny’s face. “Yeah. When I get back.” 

 

He stood to the side and watched Jenny give her brother Gary a noogie, hug her sister Tina, and get the life squeezed out of her by her parents. They waved as she walked up the gangplank to the ship. 

 

They were going to stay to watch the SS Armistice lift off, but Justin walked towards the main building of the Garrison complex. Jenny’s family had visitor’s passes for the day to see her off, but Lance had always insisted that Justin have minimal security clearance incase he ever needed to come to the complex. Delilah had a pass too, though she wasn’t trusted to carry her own and not lose it yet.

 

Justin made his way to Lance’s office, but found the door locked. 

 

“He went home early.” 

 

Justin looked up. “Oh, hey, Uncle Shiro.” 

 

“Not that it seems like he ever works in the first place, but I believe there was a family emergency.” Shiro smiled slightly. “Something about his son needing him because his best friend jetted off into the great unknown without him. Said he knew the feeling all too well.” 

 

“Right.” Justin said. “Thanks.” 

 

“He also said his son should stop and pick up some pizza and he would be reimbursed for it.” 

 

“Wonderful.” Justin sighed. Lance gave out IOUs like candy and usually paid them all off in one big lump sum around the holidays. 

 

So Justin checked his bank account, which held a meager sum from his summer job at the local bookstore, and called ahead to their usual pizza place. The order was ready by the time he got to the shop, and he headed home. Getting out of the car, he could see lights in the living room. Peeking out from behind the house was Lance’s great unfinished project, the dojo and bathhouse. 

 

Walking into the house, he followed the voices into the living room. The lights were low and the TV was on. Lance and Delilah were sprawled across the couch, while Keith sat on the floor on a pile of blankets with Cosmo. 

 

“I don’t get why everyone’s bending over backwards to make this one Ainsley girl happy.” Lance was saying. “She cries and the whole friend group uproots their whole lives to fix it.” 

 

“Lance, it’s part of the story.” Keith sighed. 

 

“Yeah, but Maya didn’t do anything wrong!” 

 

Justin put the food on the coffee table, and Delilah immediately sprung up to open the boxes. Justin sat on the couch, and Lance immediately pulled him into his side and placed a loud kiss on his forehead. 

 

“You okay kiddo?” he asked quietly. 

 

“Yeah.” Justin sighed, knowing it was useless to try to pull away. Lance was a cuddler, and over the years Justin had only learned that resistance was futile. 

 

Once everyone had their pizza, Keith got up and joined everyone else on the couch, and Lance snatched up the remote to pick something else to watch. He settled on the recent remake of The Lord of the Rings. Keith wedged himself in between Lance and the arm of the couch, and Lance released Justin but he found that he didn’t want to go far, and Delilah curled up against the other couch arm. Cosmo stretched out on the floor. 

 

Justin let out a breath he didn’t realize he had been holding. Four years to go. 

 

~*~

 

Keith sighed and looked at the paperwork Delilah had given him. “Cheerleading?” he asked. 

 

“Coach Michaels said I’d be really good at it, Dad!” Delilah was begging. “She said I’m a natural. I won’t ever be a flier, but I’m really good at all the flips and everything.”

 

“The practice is three days a week.” Keith muttered. “You’re going to have to give up some of your dance classes.” 

 

“Daddy, I really want to.” Delilah pleaded. “Bethany is joining the team too, and if I join the JV team now I’ll be a shoo-in for Varsity, and then Papa doesn’t have to publish his memoir so I can afford college.”

 

“What - Delilah, we have plenty of money. Don’t worry about college. Just...are you sure you want to do this?” 

 

“More than anything.” Delilah affirmed. 

 

Keith sighed and looked at the forms again. “Alright. But, I want you to stick with one of your dance classes. I don’t want you to quit completely.” 

 

“But - “

 

“That’s the deal.” 

 

Delilah sighed. “Fine.” 

 

“I’ll let you pick which class you’ll continue.” Keith said, straightening the papers. “I’ll give you the papers tomorrow before you go to school.” 

 

“Thanks Daddy.” Delilah grinned, jumping up to hug his neck and kiss his cheek. She ran from the room, probably to call Bethany and tell her. 

 

Keith looked at the papers and sighed, then rubbed his eyes. Thousands of years of Galran evolution, making the species the top warriors in the universe, and his daughter uses her natural talents for backflips. 

 

~*~

 

Justin decides on LA for college. It’s close enough to home where Lance won’t freak out, and far enough that there won’t be too many surprise visits. At least, that’s what he told himself and Derek. 

 

Justin doesn’t want to be too far from home. He just...doesn’t want to lose sight of what he finally has again. And Lance doesn’t seem to care either way. To everyone’s shock he doesn’t shed a single tear when they move Justin into his dorm. 

 

He cries later. A lot. And when he calms down he says the distance doesn’t matter and besides Pidge’s teleportation device will work any day now. 

 

College is strange. His roommate is this guy Tom who seems to only leave their room to party. There’s drunk girls...literally everywhere. They lose their charm after the first few weeks. The work load isn’t hard, and Justin actually likes working self-directed, what shocks him is how three quarters of the other students just don’t seem to get it. And that the professors baby them. 

 

Darren goes to LA too, but they decide not to room together. Darren somehow lands one of the coveted dingles, but the loneliness gets to him. Darren is studying music, and Justin takes a few writing classes but makes a practical decision to major in psychology. They do, however, decide to join the intramural softball team together. 

 

Darren and Justin hang out with a new group of friends, drinking in dorm rooms and eating at the diner at three am. Though there’s some nights that Justin and Darren stay in and watch movies, and at two in the morning they go outside and sit on a bench and watch the drunks get carted away by campus security. Darren is at war with a group of kids who sit in the lounge and play poker, since they like to lock them out when they go to smoke joints. 

 

College is strange. He tells Jenny this when she calls. She smiles and laughs at his stories, and he patiently listens to her about her day. Space is not as weird and exciting for her as it was for Keith and Lance. Maybe because there isn’t a war on, maybe because she’s stationed on a research vessel that only visits peaceful planets. 

 

Justin doesn’t tell Jenny about Maria, who sleeps over and holds his hand when they walk places, and talks to him about communism and the death of the nation state. They probably wouldn’t get along, he tells himself. 

 

~*~

 

Keith and Lance file into the stands, shuffling until they’re sure they’ll be able to see the cheerleaders. 

 

“First time in my life I’ve chosen a seat based on where the cheerleaders are.” Keith muttered under his breath. 

 

“Not for me!” Lance said brightly. “Come on, these are the best seats.”

 

They sat and Lance slipped his hand into Keith’s, sighing and scooting closer. They’ve done this plenty of times for Jusin, and for Delilah’s dance recitals, but this is the first one for her cheerleading. So it’s kind of exciting. 

 

When the squad jogs out onto the field, it’s not hard to pick Delilah out. Her white and pink pompoms flashed in the bright lights of the field, and her uniform is neat and crisp. A huge smile stretches across her face when she sees her dads, and she shakes her pompom vigorously. 

 

Delilah does great. The smile never leaves her face, and every time she flips or cartwheels she sticks the landing perfectly. 

 

“We should have put her in gymnastics.” Lance sighed. 

 

“She’s gonna be way too tall for that.” Keith smiled. “Also, with her genes, she’d never be allowed to compete.” 

 

After the game, Keith and Lance find Delilah with her friend Bethany. Bethany has red hair that her mother probably blows out for her, and wears too much makeup for her age. In spite of the matching uniforms and bright white sneakers, the two girls couldn’t look more different. 

 

“Hi Keith! Hi Lance!” Bethany greeted. 

 

Lance’s eye twitched. He liked to think he was a cool dad, until Bethany thought it was okay to call him by his first name. 

 

“Daddy, can I sleep over at Bethany’s?” Delilah asked. 

 

Keith glanced at Lance. The ‘it’s a school night’ denial would not work in this case. 

 

“No, chiquita, we’re having brunch at Lita’s tomorrow morning.” Lance smiled, hoping he remembered to message his mom later to let her know they were coming. “Hey, come on, we should get dinner.” 

 

“Okay. Bye, Beth.” 

 

“Later, Lilah.” 

 

The girls hugged, and Keith grabbed Delilah’s gear bag while Lance slung an arm around her shoulders. 

 

~*~

 

Justin was home from college for the long weekend. He was twenty-one now, and it was his junior year. He had declared psychology as his major earlier in the year, with a minor in creative writing. He had just broken up with his girlfriend of two years. Not Maria. This was Amanda. 

 

Amanda was a history major who Justin met through a friend. They used to spend weekend mornings together in the coffee shop, and she came to watch the intramural softball games. Justin really liked her. She was pretty and smart. And she didn’t bother him about his parents, which was always a nightmare when people found out about Keith and Lance, or ask too many questions about why there was a little galra girl in all his family photos. 

 

Two whole years. Justin had even said he loved her. He never told Keith and Lance, but they went on vacation together to Baja. Justin spent all his savings on that trip. 

 

Then...Jenny visited. 

 

Amanda knew that Justin had a female best friend who lived in space. She knew that they spoke twice a week. Justin usually planned those calls for when Amanda was at work, mainly because their hour long call was only ten minutes of actual conversation and fifty minutes of working in silence with the line open. Just like old times. 

 

Jenny visiting was great. Justin had the time of his life showing her around. She fell completely in love with the campus, and the city, and especially the little cafe near the apartment he shared with Darren and their friend Josh. Jenny was even guest star pitcher for the softball team. She and Amanda seemed to get along fine. 

 

After Jenny went back to space, Amanda accused Justin of acting weird. Said that he paid too much attention to Jenny. He said, well, yeah, it was the first time he’d seen her in three years. Then she accused him of being in love with her. And he said he used to be, but he wasn’t. Which apparently wasn’t the right thing to say. Because then she was saying she needed time to think and grabbing her purse and walking out. And then a week later she was saying it was over. 

 

So, Justin went home. It seemed like the thing to do. 

 

He parked his car outside of Delilah’s school a little after three, and got out and leaned against the door to wait. When he saw the flash of purple fur, he straightened up and waved. 

 

“Lilah!” he called. 

 

Justin’s not sure what he’s supposed to feel right now. I mean, he spent two whole years running around with the same girl. Lots of time, a lot of money on her photography hobby that she wasn’t that good at. But he knows he’s not sad, and he’s not happy either. 

 

He should feel something. He’s just not sure what it is yet. 

 

Lilah burst through a pack of kids and sprinted at him, her backpack swinging wildly. If Justin hadn’t been on the receiving end of this at least a dozen times, he might of been scared. Delilah had become tall for her age, and though she had a pretty slim frame like Acxa or Krolia, she was all powerful muscle. At eleven, she was terrifying. 

 

Terrifying for someone in shorts a tad too short for their father’s approval, a bubblegum pink t-shirt with a unicorn on it, and a glittering silver hairband. He could have sworn Delilah was still...you know...a kid. Not in middle school. 

 

Lilah dropped her bag and launched herself at her brother, trusting him to catch her the same way he had every other time she had done this. It still amazed him how she managed to grab him and effortlessly swing around, wrapping her arms and legs around him in a koala bear hug. 

 

“Christ, Lilah, you’re too big for this.” Justin grumbled, hugging her in spite of himself. 

 

“Why are you here?” she demanded, shouting directly into his ear. 

 

The kids around them, leaving school for the day, were not openly staring at them but were glancing over in confusion and then looking away. 

 

“I wanted to pick you up from school.” Justin smiled. 

 

“So you drove all the way from LA to Seattle to get me from school on a Thursday? When you could barely make it home for Thanksgiving last year?” 

 

“I had to work that year. The parental units wanted to finish something up at the Garrison so I said I’d pick you up.”

 

Delilah released him and hopped down, jogging back a little ways to retrieve her backpack. Justin unlocked the car and got in, waiting patiently for Delilah to stuff her bag at her feet and put on her seatbelt. 

 

“How long are you visiting for?” Delilah asked, reaching forward to fiddle with the radio. 

 

Justin smacked her fingers away from the controls. “Just for the weekend. We had reading days.”

 

“What are reading days?” 

 

“They’re days the school gives you to study for midterms, but normal kids just spend them drinking.”

 

“Why aren’t you normal?” 

 

“Have you noticed who our parents are?” 

 

Delilah made a face, and looked out the window. Her face went blank as a group of girls walked past, dressed similarly to Delilah. Justin thought he saw her best friend Bethany at the head of the group. 

 

“How’s cheerleading?” Justin asked. 

 

“Good.” Delilah shrugged. “How’s Amanda?” 

 

“Good.” Justin lied. 

 

~*~

 

Date night is a Big Deal in the McClain-Kogane household. It happens once a month. Forever ago, it meant one of their many aunts and uncles would come over to babysit. When Justin started high school, he could be trusted with watching the house and his sister. Delilah was probably old enough to take care of herself now, but Keith and Lance did prefer that someone stay with her just in case. Tonight it would be Justin. 

 

Date night is a huge deal for Keith and Lance. They get dressed up. They take turns planning the dates - Lance has odd months and Keith has even. There is almost always some sort of dinner involved, and the activity ranged from holo-movies to paintball. Whatever they were in the mood for. 

 

Tonight’s like any other night. Lance and Keith come home from work and Lance immediately starts acting like it’s prom night, banishing Keith to the spare bedroom so he can get ready. Keith takes a long shower and dresses in a thick red sweater and one of his nicer pairs of jeans. Lance takes a short shower and tries on three outfits while his moisturizer soaks into his face. 

 

Keith transfers some GAC to Justin so he can buy dinner for himself and Delilah. Delilah reassures Lance that his white shirt is fine, and that Keith will love plans for the evening. There’s the usual whirlwind of goodbyes, and take care of your sister, and don’t burn the house down, and don’t forget to feed Cosmo, and suddenly they’re gone. 

 

Delilah leaps gracefully over the back of the couch and lands comfortably in her usual spot, snatching up the remote and turning on the TV. Justin falls into his spot at the other end and pulls his tablet out of his pocket. 

 

“What do you want to eat?” Justin asked, opening his take out app. “Burgers?” 

 

“I’m on a diet.” Delilah says, flipping through the channels.

 

Justin looks at her incredulously. “You’re eleven. You can’t be on a diet.” 

 

“Not that kind of diet. A cheer diet. We have to eat healthy.” 

 

“Well, cheat day.” Justin shrugged. 

 

“Justin!” 

 

“What? I’m home for like three days. Eat junk food with me.” 

 

Delilah rolled her eyes, but Justin could tell she was giving in. 

 

“We’ll compromise.” Justin suggested. “Pizza.” 

 

Delilah made a face. “Indian.” 

 

“Thai. We’ll get extra curry puffs.” 

 

“Done.” 

 

“Here. Put in your order first.” 

 

They swapped the tablet for the remote, and Justin found a rerun of a show he liked while Delilah selected green curry for her dinner. Justin selected panang curry and basically one of every appetizer, with extra curry puffs. 

 

They watched TV in silence until the food arrived, and then sat up a little straighter to lean over the coffee table and eat. Justin got up to find the appropriate utensils - Keith collected just about every cutlery he could get his hands on, so it wasn’t a question of if they had the flat porcelain soup spoons so much as where in the overfilled silverware drawer they actually were. 

 

On a side note, Keith had a special love of sporks. He had a set of stainless steel ones that got more use than anything else. He claimed they were perfect for almost any dish, and he wasn’t really wrong.

 

“How’s school going?” Justin asked. 

 

“Fine.” Delilah shrugged. 

 

“Cheer’s alright?” 

 

“I guess.” 

 

“Great enthusiasm.” 

 

“Justin, why are you home?” Delilah asked, rolling her eyes. She seemed to be getting very good at that.  

 

Justin sighed. “Can’t I just want to see my family?” 

 

“Uhm, it’s called a vidphone. Something happened that makes you actually want one of Papi’s hugs.”

 

She wasn’t wrong. 

 

“So? Did you flunk out?” 

 

Justin scoffed. “I didn’t flunk out.” 

 

“Then what’s wrong?” 

 

Justin sighed. “Amanda dumped me.” 

 

“Oh.” 

 

They watched TV for a moment. 

 

“You know, most siblings say something like ‘I’m sorry’.” Justin pointed out. 

 

“I’m Galra.” 

 

“Doesn’t mean you can’t have sympathy.” 

 

Delilah shrugged. “I’m not sorry, though. Amanda was kind of...I don’t know. Not boring. Dad called her basic.” 

 

Justin should be offended. But just like how he wasn’t happy or sad about any of it, he couldn’t find it in himself to reprimand his sister, or protest that while Amanda had, admittedly, been basic, she was a nice person. And smart. 

 

“What ever happened to Jenny?” Delilah asked. 

 

Justin sighed. He does know that Jenny’s the last person he wants to talk about right now. 

 

“She went to space.” he said shortly. 

 

“I liked her.” 

 

Justin was silent. Yeah, he did too. 

 

~*~

 

Justin is halfway through his senior year when Jenny misses their weekly phone call. He tries not to worry, but he does. 

 

After three days, he breaks and calls his dads. They reassure him that the SS Armistice is just fine, just in a dead zone. No comms. He just has to be patient, they tell him. 

 

SS Armistice clears the zone, and Jenny still doesn’t call. She doesn’t pick up when Justin calls. Lance won’t say what, but something happened in the dead zone. Give her time, he advises. 

 

When she does call, she looks exhausted. And her eyes are red and puffy. Her arm is wrapped up in blue burn tape, numbing any pain and helping to heal whatever damage had happened. 

 

“What happened?” he asks, feeling useless. 

 

“We...there was an asteroid field. Took out the main engines, and there was a fire. My friend Amy...she didn’t make it.” 

 

“Jen...I’m sorry.” 

 

Jenny rubbed her eyes, either from tears or lack of sleep. “We’ve been working around the clock to get everything back online. This is the first time I’ve had to call.” 

 

“You look like you need to go to sleep.” 

 

“I wanted to talk to you.” 

 

Even as she said it, Jenny laid down and propped her tablet against something so they could keep talking. 

 

“Are you okay?” Justin asked. 

 

“Yeah. Burned my arm a bit. But I’m fine. I mean, three years into a five year mission and this is the only bad thing to happen. That’s pretty lucky. I mean, how many bad things happened to your dads on their first day in space?” 

 

“Keith and Lance could find trouble in a church library.”

 

“Tell me a story about them?” 

 

Justin smiled slightly. “You watched the show. You probably know better than I do.” 

 

“Yeah, well, I want to hear your version.” 

 

Jenny’s eyes were closing, but Justin told her anyway, “Once upon a time, there was a boy who decided he’d follow his best friend to the end of the universe.” 

 

~*~

 

Keith is having a quiet afternoon off at the house. Delilah is at her dance class, and will stay there until about dinner time. She has a few friends there that she likes to hang out with. They’d get snacks at the gas station next door and then use one of the studios to practice. Keith generally approves of this because it is time not spent with Bethany. 

 

God, he hates Bethany. As much as a full grown adult can hate a twelve year old girl. 

 

Keith’s had a pretty good day. He did a light workout, then showered down outside before sliding into the large bath. Lance had finally finished the dojo and outdoor bath the year before, though the swedish sauna was a late addition that had only just been finished. Lance had enclosed the spa area with a high fence for privacy - in order to keep the pH of the bathwater where it should be, no one was allowed clothes or a bathing suit in the bath. And they had to shower before getting in. 

 

Keith let out a long breath and stared up at the sky. Delilah had come home with a black eye the other week. She swore up and down it was an accident at cheer practice, but Keith and Lance both agreed she way lying about  _ something _ . 

 

Lance rapped twice on the fence before opening the gate and slipping through with a smile. His hair is wet and sticking up like he had run a towel through it and dashed outside. 

 

“I didn’t say you could come in.” Keith said. 

 

“About a decade too late to be prudish, babe.” Lance grinned, gleefully pulling off his robe and slipping into the water. He easily tangled his legs in Keith’s and settled in, threading his fingers in Keith’s hair. “You need a haircut.” 

 

“I’ll ask Rachel to do it for me when we go to her house next week.”

 

“Oh, my god, Keith.” 

 

“What?”

 

“You can’t keep having my sister cut your hair.” 

 

“She does a good job!” 

 

Lance just sighed and shook his head. Keith couldn’t help but be captivated by the way his eyes shone even in disappointment. 

 

“Delilah was asking me about her home planet yesterday.” 

 

Keith sighed. 

 

“I think she wants to visit it.” 

 

“There’s nothing there.” Keith said. 

 

“I know.”

 

“They never rebuilt it.” 

 

“I told her that.”

 

“All the water on the planet is radioactive. It’ll take a thousand years before it’s safe to live there again.” 

 

“She doesn’t want to live there, Keith. She just wants to know where she comes from.” 

 

Keith sighed. He understood that feeling. 

  
  


“We don’t know anything about where she’s from.”

 

“Well, maybe it can be a project for all of us.” Lance slid closer and rested his head on Keith’s shoulder. “Did Justin call today?”

 

“Yeah, a few hours ago. Jenny comes home tomorrow.”

 

“You think he’s going to tell her?” 

 

Keith kisses the top of his head. “I hope so.”

 

~*~

 

Justin cleaned the apartment. He tidied his desk. He put away all the laundry. He chased Darren out. 

 

When the doorbell rang, Justin thought that maybe he should feel nervous, but he wasn’t. He opened the door and hugged Jenny tightly. 

 

“Welcome home.” 

 

Jenny smiled into his shoulder. “Thanks.” 

 

Justin leads her into the kitchen, where she leans against the counter and sips the beer he handed her while he finishes up dinner. Her arm and hand is still covered in burn scars that never healed properly, but she doesn’t look as tired as she used to during their phone calls. 

 

Jenny is going to stay on with the Garrison for at least another year while she decided if she wanted to go into the private sector or not. Justin has just started his masters in social work, and he’s thinking he’s going to work as a school counselor and work on his first novel. 

 

They ate, and talked about their families. Jenny’s sister is starting college this year. Delilah is growing up way too fast, and Gary isn’t maturing fast enough. 

 

“Jenny?” 

 

“Hmm?” 

 

“Can we talk about us?” 

 

She straightened up a little. “What do you mean?” 

 

“I just...I think we should give us a shot. If you want to.” 

 

Jenny sighed. “Justin...I...I’m not going to be able to be...you know I’m ace. I’m never going to initiate sex. I just don’t think about it.”

 

“I know.” 

 

“I’m not going to be in the mood half the time you initiate either.” 

 

“Jenny.” Justin smiled, putting down the spoon he had been stirring risotto with. “You’ve been my best friend for almost ten years. I want to date you because I want to spend time with you all the time, and do nice things for you and tell you how amazing you are without feeling that I’m overstepping boundaries.”

 

Jenny stared at him. 

 

“If you don’t want that, it’s okay.” Justin said awkwardly. “I just...thought you should know.” 

 

“No, I...those things sound nice.” 

 

Justin smiled slightly and held his hand out. “Date me?” 

 

“Okay.” 

 

She took his hand and stepped closer, standing on tiptoes to press a shy kiss to the corner of his mouth. Justin pressed their foreheads together and squeezed her hand lightly. 

 

“I missed you.” he told her. 

 

“I missed you too.” She pulled away and looked over his shoulder. “The risotto is burning.” 

 

“Shit.” 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long. Work has been so busy. 
> 
> That adoption line from Easy A is hysterical and I've been waiting years to find a way to use it.


End file.
